Left to right: Sharon and Gene Wintner and Shannon Leate-Varney, an adjunct faculty member.

Appropriately, the gathering was held in the college’s Reading Center on the 2nd floor of the Spurk Building on the Haverhill Campus.

Wintner started his career at Northern Essex as coordinator of the Reading Lab in 1979. He was named to the faculty in the early 1980’s and is credited with developing the college’s basic reading course, which helps students expand their vocabulary and basic comprehension skills, building a foundation for future college success.

Wintner has written and published several basic reading textbooks and he also helped create Northern Essex’s College Success course which was introduced in 2007.

Wintner also served as chair of the college’s All College Assembly’s Executive Committee for many years.

While Wintner plans to take the spring and summer semesters off, he does envision returning to teach part-time after that. “As an adjunct, I’ll get the best of both worlds,” he says. I’ll get to do what I love best—teach—without having to attend meetings, etc.”

Wintner smiles when considering his years at Northern Essex, saying “I haven’t been bored a day in my life. I looked forward to coming to work, and I appreciate all my wonderful co-workers.”

Here are more photos.