An 89-year-old great-grandmother may become Canada's oldest high school graduate when she receives her diploma on Wednesday, The National Post reported.
Cathleen "Kay" Eddison will earn her Dogwood certificate from the Agassiz Centre for Education alongside two other seniors, 73 years after dropping out of her Victoria high school.
"My family is so proud of me, it’s almost embarrassing," she told the newspaper.
The school is fairly certain that Eddison is Canada's oldest high school graduate. Staffers checked records and found that other graduates had received honourary diplomas, but Eddison and her colleagues will graduate having done precisely the same work that anyone else does to earn a cap and gown.
Eddison left her Victoria school as her family struggled through the end of the Great Depression, taking a job as a switchboard operator with BC Tel, The Vancouver Sun reported in April.
She later moved on to work for the ministry of health. She got married and had two children without finishing her high school education.
Last year, the Agassiz Centre for Education visited her retirement home and asked if any residents were interested in the High School Seniors program for seniors who never got their diplomas. Eddison volunteered on the spot, The Post reported.
But Eddison isn't the only one ready to march down the aisle to "Pomp and Circumstance." Maureen Baker, 76, will also receive her diploma at a sold-out ceremony on Wednesday, News1130 reported.
"It’s just something that I’ve always wanted to do. I should have graduated in 1956 and I’ve always felt kind of left out that I hadn’t graduated," she told the radio station.
Also on HuffPost
