90-year old US woman earns university degree after dropping out in 1950s
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A 90-year-old US woman has received a university degree from the Northern Illinois University (NIU), becoming the oldest person ever to do so in recent history.
Joyce DeFauw dropped out in 1950s following her marriage while she was pursuing the degree and later life dragged her on until she finally decided to chase her dream.
Joyce DeFauw made it seven decades after she was enrolled for the degree in 1951 when she was known by Joyce Viola Kane. Back then she wanted to major in home economics.
As she was studying in the university she fell for 'a good looking guy' and got married Don Freeman Sr. in 1955, giving birth to three children, said a press release by NIU.
After Freeman died, Joyce DeFauw remarried her late second husband, Roy DeFauw after five years.
They had six children together, including two sets of twins, said DeFauw who at the moment is a mother of nine, grandmother to 17 and great-grandmother to 24.
Finally decades later in 2019, DeFauw returned to the University with the student ID from the past.
She received the family's encouragement and worked on a computer at her retirement home.
"People see things in you that you don't see in yourself," she reportedly said.
Jenna Dooley, one of Ms DeFauw's 17 grandchildren, told CNN that DeFauw's return to study meant more about the 'why not' than the 'why.'