89-year-old grandmother receives her university degree after waiting decades for an opportunity that was denied to her in her youth because she became pregnant

Joan Alexander achieved her academic goal at 89 by receiving a bachelor’s degree in Educational Sciences from the University of Maine.

In the 1950s, the student planned to graduate, but the authorities prohibited her from doing her teaching practicum because she was pregnant with her first child. After dedicating herself to raising her four children alongside her husband Jim, a member of the United States Coast Guard, her youngest daughter, Tracy, arranged the graduation.

Associate dean Justin Dimmel validated her work at a preschool in Southwest Harbor, making the woman the oldest graduate in the institution’s 160-year history.