Milan Whetstone, popular Rowan admissions director and education counselor, has died at 38
She joined her college alma mater as a freshman admissions counselor in 2021 and rose to assistant director of admissions for the university’s Pathway Programs in 2022.
Milan Whetstone, everyone said, knew how to get things done.
When her husband, Dawaine, wondered if he should apply for a new job, she helped him update his resume and references. Thanks largely to her, he said, he got the job.
“She got me out of my comfort zone,” he said, “and helped me achieve goals I didn’t think were possible.”
When colleague Charissa Patel struggled at work, Mrs. Whetstone counseled her daily on the phone and encouraged her with pep talks and humor. “You had this rare gift of believing in people before they even believed in themselves,” Patel told Mrs. Whetsone on Facebook.
When high school and college students sought guidance on all kinds of things, from summer school schedules to decorating dorm rooms, Mrs. Whetstone, as an assistant director of undergraduate admissions at Rowan University, always found an answer.
“I know firsthand how exciting and challenging starting college can be,” she said in her Rowan profile. “Everyone will find community and feel comfortable here.” Rowan colleagues said in an online tribute: “Her impact to the campus community will be felt forever.”
Whether it was for the new mother to whom she gave her spare diapers, the Alpha Kappa Alpha Inc. sorority sisters with whom she bonded, or simply the people she encountered every day, Mrs. Whetstone, everyone said, made things better.
“Her impact inspired me daily,” her husband said.
On June 7, 2023, after months of trying to conceive followed by a successful pregnancy, Mrs. Whetstone and her husband welcomed their daughter, Nola, into the world. Four days later, Mrs. Whetstone learned she had stage 4 colon cancer.
On Thursday, April 23, Milan Whetstone, of Sicklerville, Camden County, died of complications of stage 4 colon cancer at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She was 38.
“Embrace all that Rowan University has to offer,” she told students and colleagues in 2024 as she accepted a leadership award from university officials. “Continue to lift each other up and support each other, and strive for excellence in everything that you do.”
“That was her,” her husband said. “Going above and beyond was her everyday norm.”
Born in Voorhees Township, Camden County, and reared in nearby Sicklerville, Mrs. Whetstone graduated from Winslow Township High School in 2006. She joined Rowan, her college alma mater, as a freshman admissions counselor in 2021 and rose to assistant director of admissions for Rowan’s Pathway Programs in 2022.
She was an expert in student support services, especially the Educational Opportunity Fund, and she supervised programs at Rowan that personalized efforts to ensure academic development and improved social skills and habits. She organized student support workshops and conferences, and was the main presenter at Rowan’s recent Flying First symposium for high school guidance counselors.
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From 2013 to 2021, she was a recruitment specialist for the Educational Opportunity Fund at Salem Community College, an academic adviser at Borough of Manhattan Community College, a student adviser at the Mildred Elley career training school in New York, and a care manager at Cumberland Gloucester Salem Family Partnership Inc.
She also volunteered with expectant mothers and families at Peaceful Minds Haven in South Jersey. Wherever she worked, she championed education and social services.
In 2025, she earned the Gloucester County NAACP’s Strength In Motherhood Award as “a resilient leader who inspired others through her journey in overcoming infertility and dealing with stage 4 cancer.”
In February, she was named one of Front Runner New Jersey’s 30 under-40 top Black leaders of South Jersey. “Despite the unimaginable challenge,” Front Runner officials said, “she has faced her journey with extraordinary strength, grace, and unwavering hope.”
Mrs. Whetstone earned a bachelor’s degree in applied sociology at Rowan in 2011 and a master’s degree in social work at Rutgers University in 2013. She joined the AKA sorority at Rowan, and soro sisters remember her distinctive laugh and feisty attitude.
“Milan understands the power of visible leadership, mentorship, and community,” Greek life colleagues at Rowan said in a recent tribute. “Milan intentionally creates spaces of belonging and support across Rowan’s many communities.”
On Facebook, friends and colleagues have posted hundreds of photos, videos, and tributes on the page, In Memory of Milan. Lifelong friend Danielle Wilson said: “Milan taught us to cherish time without pictures, without phones, just being present. She always said: ‘The C word is not stopping me.’”
Milan Natasha Ahye was born Feb. 6, 1988. She was reared mostly by her grandmother, Nancy, grew up with four sisters and three brothers, and was on the track and competitive cheerleading teams in high school.
“She was the best big sister I could have ever asked for,” Tatiana Shomo said.
She reunited with old friend Dawaine Whetstone, also a Rowan graduate, in a chance meeting at a car wash, and they married in 2022. She welcomed his son, DaSean, into her family, and baby Nola made four in 2023.
“She was genuine, funny, incredibly strong, and the kind of person who could light up any room,” longtime friend Courtney Bolden said.
Mrs. Whetstone enjoyed dancing and binge-watching Friends and other old TV shows. She worked part time at Wawa for 10 years and was adept at planning parties and interior decorating.
Her husband call her “a real-life superhero, a super mom.” He said: “She was a blessing to everyone.”
In addition to her husband and his son, and her daughter, Mrs. Whetstone is survived by her parents, Philip Ahye and Tamara Seales, four sisters, two brothers, and other relatives. A brother died earlier.
A celebration of her life is to be at 11 a.m. Tuesday, May 5, at the Perfecting Church, 274 Delsea Dr., Sewell, N.J. 08080.
