Two days ago I was fortunate in being able to attend the graduation from the University of Michigan-Flint for my neice, Amy Lynn Simpson. She graduated with a bachelors of Arts degree in Psychology and will complete all her course work by Spring 2011. The day before my other neice, Meghan Joyce McNary graduated from Grand Valley State University near Grand Rapids, Michigan.
My father would be so proud of these two granddaughters of his. Erin McNary, Dad's oldest grandchild, graduated from Hope College in 2004 and is successfully employed as a teacher in Georgia where she has been there since 2007, before this she taught school in North Carolina and Imlay City, Michigan.
Dad was so enthusiastic for education. He attained a bachelors of Science from the University of Georgia in Animal Husbandry in 1950 and then his teaching certificate in 1956 from the University of Ohio. He saw that all for of his daughters, my sisters and I, went to college, it was never an option for us, we were going to school beyond that of public school. When I worked for Dad in the 1980s he was adamant that somehow he would make sure that his grandchildren would all attend college, and it was only his disability that prevented him from pursuing this goal in 1997.
College isn't for everyone, but everyone should have an option to attend and see if further education will provide advancement in their lives. This was my father's philosophy and he came from a family that believed in education. His father, Roy Brooks was president of the Board of Education in Elmodel where Dad grew up, and his mother, Eva Ruth Minter Brooks attended the University of Georgia to get her teaching certification as did her sister Vesta Adel Minter. Many of my grandmother's Uncles went on to college and became doctors and dentists. As mentioned above, college was in my future and there was no discussion otherwise about it.
Dad would have loved to be at the Perani Arena on Sunday to watch Amy march in her cap and gown with all the other graduates. Not only was completion of the degree important to Dad, but also the 'Pomp and Circumstances" that go with the degree. When I was finishing my graduate degree in Library Studies in 1991 I had a discussion with Dad about missing the graduation ceremony. Dad soon talked me out of this position. He said the ceremony is just as important as the degree, it being something you would always recall for the hard work put in obtaining the degree. Dad didn't believe in shabby celebrations or avoidance of celebrations. No marriage before a court judge for Dad, but in a church, or other religious setting, so that you would have memories of the event.
Ian Brooks Huffman will graduate from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee and I feel so fortunate that I will be able to attend this ceremony. I will carry in my memory the words of Dad and how he would have been so proud of his three grandchildren in this month of May and their graduations from college.
