Diploma

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elsie May 29, 2004

I thought this story was wonderful. It was in our local paper.

Woman earns high school diploma at 90

West Palm Beach, FL (AP)
Uceba Babson used to trudge through flooded plains for more than a mile to reach her one room schoolhouse, her lunch pail full of syrup covered biscuits. That was before buses and roads came to rural Pahokee and the swampy land made getting to school an adventure. But in 1931 Babson gave up her daily commute through Florida swamps to marry a vegetable farmer.

She now has 81 grandchildren and great-grandchildren to hear her schoolgirl tales, but the end of the story always troubled her. So after outliving three husbands and letting seven decades pass since her last high school class, Babson decided it was time to go back to school.

After two years of hard work, never missing a day of class, she took part in a graduation ceremony a few months after her 90th birthday. She received a rousing standing ovation, a bouquet of red roses and a congratulatory letter from Gov. Jeb Bush.

Babson - born before WW 1 broke out, before Charles Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic Ocean, before women won the right to vote - now has new stories of getting to school. “I studied and studied, and then I learned I actually passed,” Babson said. “A lot of it was memorizing. You had to remember the rules and at 90, it’s hard,” She tells of days that begin at 4 a.m. with a hot shower and water bottles to get her knees working. Inspired by a book about a man who was in his 90’s when he started high school, Babson dove into her math, English, science and social studies courses.

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Debby Milo, IA(Zone 5a) May 30, 2004

Just goes to show ya, it is never too late.

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darius So.App.Mtns., United States(Zone 5b) May 30, 2004

What a wonderful story... and I even know where Pahokee is!

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