Sheinelle Jones returned to the campus where she met her late husband, and brought their son
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Sheinelle Jones brought her 17-year-old son to Northwestern, where he heard the story of his parents’ engagement for the first time.
Kayin Ojeh learned something about his parents last week that he had somehow never been told, and he learned it the same way everyone else in the room did.
PEOPLE reported that Sheinelle Jones, 48, recounted the moment on Monday’s episode of “Today with Jenna & Sheinelle,” describing her return to Northwestern University on Oct. 2 to accept the 2026 Distinguished Alumnae Award. The honor recognizes women graduates who have brought distinction to the school through their work. Jones graduated in 2000.
Her 17-year-old came with her. What neither of them anticipated was how precisely the geography would line up.
“Scott Hall, where they gave me the award, was on the corner where I met Uche, and I could see right outside of the window, was where I met Uche,” Jones told co-host Jenna Bush Hager. During her speech, she continued the story, describing how years later he proposed on the rocks along Lake Michigan.
That detail was news to her son. Jones said Kayin mentioned to one of her former professors afterward that he had never heard it before.
Uche Ojeh died last year at 45 following a glioblastoma diagnosis. Jones, who is also mother to 14-year-old twins Clara and Uche Jr., noted the symmetry that struck her hardest: “I met his dad the same age he is now.” She admitted uncertainty about how the visit would land for him, saying she wasn’t sure whether he would be overwhelmed by the weight of it or energized by it.
He chose the second option, enthusiastically. Jones lost track of him during the second half of a game at Ryan Field, eventually discovering he had migrated into the student section attempting to get on the jumbotron. She later found him befriending students in a dorm and had to text him that he could not stay, since he is not enrolled there.
Her closing reflection carried the rest. “I certainly can’t make sense of all the things that have happened in my life, but in that moment, it was like, I’m gonna be okay.”
In an Instagram post from the trip, Jones wrote that she couldn’t stop thinking about her grandmother and Uche, believing both would have been seated in the front row.