Granny dies a day after getting college degree
By IANSWednesday, January 27, 2010
NEW HAMPSHIRE - A retired schoolteacher, who cherished becoming a college graduate till her 100th birthday, died just a day after realising her life-long dream.
Harriet Richardson Ames, who celebrated her 100th birthday on Jan 2, earned a bachelor’s degree just a day before she died in New Hampshire Saturday.
Harriet’s health was failing, and she was under hospice care, Press TV reported Wednesday.
“Harriet was so moved that she started to cry,” said Norma Walker, coordinator of the Keene State College Golden Circle Society, New Hampshire, who delivered a certificate to Ames last week.
“If I die tomorrow, I’ll know I’ll die happy, because my degree’s in the works,” Walker recalled Harriet as saying.
“She asked me if I would read the diploma at her funeral if she didn’t live long enough to accept it herself,” Walker said.
Ames taught in a one-room school in South Newbury after earning a two-year teaching certificate in 1931 from Keene Normal School, now Keene State College.
Later, she spent 20 years as a principal at Memorial School in Pittsfield teaching first-graders.
She had been taking classes at the University of New Hampshire and other institutes to earn credits for her degree. But after her retirement in 1971, she stopped pursuing her dream due to eyesight failure.
Recently, the school evaluated Ames’ coursework and decided to award her a diploma.
