Life

97-Year-Old Woman Recieves Her High School Diploma

by Kat George

You might have been thrilled when high school was over, but this 97-year-old woman cried as she receives her high school diploma. Tears of joy, that is. Maybe you took your education for granted, but for Margaret Thome Bekema, her honorary diploma from Grand Rapids Catholic Central High is a blessing. Margaret was forced to leave high school when she was 17 in order to care for her siblings and her sick mother, and never finished her studies at Catholic Central High, which she had begun in 1932. Now, Margaret has been gifted with an honorary diploma from the school, marked 1936, the year she would have graduated. Yes, that's 79 years ago.

Margaret said, “I had to quit school to take over the family. It was hard, you have no idea how hard that was. I loved high school and I had lots of friends.” And as much as I hated high school myself, that's heart =breaking to hear. It definitely gives pause for thought, and certainly makes me think twice about the things that I have grinned and bared throughout my life, and what I would do without many of those things. So if you're complaining about your education right now, the bottom line is stop being a little bitch about it. Oh and yes, I teared up when Margaret did. But you will do.

Here's Margaret With Her Diploma

Here's Margaret Breaking Your Heart With Her Beautiful Tears

Margaret Reads Her Diploma

Go Margaret!

Here's a brief USA Today news report on Margaret's diploma:

Images: Pixabay