LAKE WALES, Fla. — An 88-year-old woman who was just two half-credits shy of graduating high school but had to drop out has received a high school diploma some seven decades after the fact.
The Lakeland Ledger on Monday reported that Ellen Marie Weddle, who now lives in Florida, received a diploma from Bradford High School in Arkansas last month.
Weddle was a senior at the high school in Bradford in 1943 when her family moved to Michigan as her father looked for work.
Her mother died not long after that, and she gave up hope of ever getting a high school diploma.
In July, Weddle wrote to the principal of the school asking what avenues there were to graduate.
Principal Rick Wood asked her to write two essays, and she got her diploma.
Read Tuesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.