She might prefer coffee, but Shelley Meyer, wife of Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer, was “honored” to be part of a tea party.
The Office of Student Life presented “Tea with Shelley Meyer” as part of “Anne and Woody Hayes Celebration Week” on Tuesday at the Ohio Union. Javaune Adams-Gaston, vice president of Student Life, hosted the tea.
“When they said Anne Hayes used to do a tea, I was very honored to even have my name in the same sentence as hers,” Shelley Meyer told The Lantern.
Jessica Shanahan, co-chair of the week’s events and Student Life administrative intern, said the tea was meant to commemorate the ones Anne Hayes used to host. There was a replica of her tea set present and some of her recipes were used, such as the pimento cheese spread, which Shelley Meyer said she enjoyed. The event was free to students and the only expense was the cost of the food, Shanahan said.
A psychiatric nurse, runner, fitness instructor and native Ohioan, Shelley Meyer had a connection to many of the 50 students in attendance.
Nursing students going through their psychiatric clinicals, those from her home county (Ross) and members of the running club were invited via email. The event was also open to all students.
Shelley Meyer mingled with students and faculty over petit fours and scones before joining Adams-Gaston and Shanahan at the front of the room for a Q-and-A session. She talked about attending the Ross County Fair (one year she was queen), old boyfriends and her passion for psychiatric nursing and being active.
She told a story about a time during her psychiatric clinical at a Veteran’s Affairs hospital when she would play pool with her patients. She said Urban Meyer would joke that her job must be hard if she was playing pool all day. To which she responded, “Well throwing around a football all day isn’t exactly a real job.”
Lana Uhrig, a Ph.D. candidate in the College of Public Health, shares Shelley Meyer’s hometown of Frankfort, Ohio, and sat next to her during the lunch portion of the event.
“We just talked about her family and her kids,” she said. “She just really seems very warm and kind-hearted.”
Shelley Meyer said she is very excited to be a part of the traditions at OSU.
“Growing up an Ohio State fan on the outside just watching the games and things, and then actually being able to be here and be a part of it, I mean, that’s almost like every Ohioan’s dream is to actually be involved in it,” she said.
David Drewes, a first-year in psychology, said he wanted to know more about Urban Meyer’s better half.
“I came because well, Urban’s the man,” he said. “(But) I’m interested in traditions and what she does behind the scenes besides supporting the coach.”
Adams-Gaston said the point of the “Anne and Woody Hayes Celebration Week” was to connect students with traditions.
“It’s just a week filled with things to help students both give of themselves and learn, and that is a sense of what tradition is really about,” she said. “It’s much deeper than just cheering. It’s about how we give back to one another and how we support one another as a community.”
Shelley Meyer said if she and Urban were to be remembered similarly to Anne and Woody Hayes, she would like to be commemorated with a spinning class in the ‘Shoe.