The ABC station in Fort Wayne, Ind., WPTA-21 Alive, included a story this week about Verdena Blair, a 75-year-old woman who received her bachelor’s degree from Grace College on Saturday. Below is the news story, accompanied by part of the story from the 21 Alive website. Click here to read the complete story.
75-year-old woman graduates college after 40 year journey
WINONA LAKE, Ind. (21Alive) — She’s just your normal 75-year old woman, and now she’s a college graduate.
Michigan native Verdena Blair received a Bachelor of Science degree from Grace College and Theological Seminary Saturday afternoon after a long road.
“It’s been 40 years,” Blair looks back. “Summer of 1976 was my first transcript that I got back to get this journey going.”
Five colleges and four decades of sporadic classes, one would never guess that in 2014, being able to walk the stage was an impossible thought.
“I went to Israel.. and got back and fell ill and was in the hospital for four months,” Blair says.
“It was nothing short of a miracle to see this flip because nobody would have believed seeing her lying on the bed that she couldn’t talk, and she couldn’t walk,” Blair’s daughter Lisa Fort says. “She literally was not the same woman as she is today.”
Despite being bed-ridden, it didn’t hinder Blair from her studies.
Click here to read the complete story.