After Dropping Out To Start A Family, 90-year-old US Woman Finally Graduates From University After 71 Years
A woman from Illinois is doing just that, she is finally graduating after 71 years of starting college. She is 90 years old at the time she will be graduating. Here's what we know.
Graduating from college is always special and every student looks forward to it eagerly. But graduating after 71 years ought to be very very special.
A woman from Illinois, US, is doing just that - she is finally graduating after 71 years of starting college. She is 90 years old at the time she will be graduating. Here's what we know.
90-year-old woman is graduating after 71 years
Northern Illinois University
A 90-year-old woman, who is a resident of Illinois, has graduated from Northern Illinois University (NIU, USA). The graduation comes after 71 years of her enrolling for a degree in home economics at NIU.
On Sunday, the woman who is identified as Joyce DeFauw graduated from NIU after 71 years. Presently, she is a mother, grandmother and also a great-grandmother.
DeFauw walked across the stage to receive her diploma to complete a dream that had been in the making since 1951, when she first enrolled in the course.
She dropped out of college to start a family
An Illinois woman began studying at NIU in 1951. This weekend, she will finally walk across the stage to get her degree.
¡ª WNIJ (@WNIJNews) December 6, 2022
She also happens to have a close connection to WNIJ. Read more about Joyce DeFauw: https://t.co/MVtpA4GU0L pic.twitter.com/hC66YFDqGM
DeFauw, who used to go by Joyce Viola Kane back in time, said that she went to college for about three and a half years before dropping out when she met a special man at a church, as per a CNN report.
The man who is identified as, Don Freeman Sr, stole her heart and got married to her in 1955. The woman reportedly already had three children with her late first husband before he passed away.
Five years later, she married a man named Roy DeFauw, the second late husband with whom she had six children, including two sets of twins. Naturally, her family grew over the years and she now has 17 grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren.
She went back to college in 2019
CNN
The woman went back to college in 2019, as she wanted to finish what she has started. Her family completely supported her decision to complete her education.
"I guess I mentioned I was upset that I didn't finish school and my children encouraged me to go back," she recalled, as per CNN. She enrolled back at NIU, but not before leaving the school shocked by her query about a previous enrollment from the '50s.
But this time, the college was different and there were many changes - classes were online and she had to learn how to use a laptop.
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