73 years after leaving school, Arkansas woman, 88, fulfills dream of earning diploma

Ellen Marie Autry Weddle left Bradford High School in 1943 three months before she was to graduate, when her family moved from Arkansas to Michigan. She fully intended to earn her diploma while there.

But life interrupted and delayed that. Her father lost his job in Michigan, and her mother, who was in remission from cancer, suddenly died. Weddle married, got a job as a beautician near Detroit and had two sons. She didn't earn that diploma.

But it stayed on her mind.

"I was disappointed in myself," Weddle, 88, said Monday from her Lake Wales, Fla., home. "I was so close to graduation."

Her husband of 69 years, Al Weddle, decided to help. He called Bradford High School in July and talked with Principal Rick Wood.

Wood checked the transcripts for Weddle, whose maiden name was Autry, and found she needed only a half credit in English and a half credit in history to earn her high school diploma.

Wood talked with his superintendent and the School Board and came up with an idea: If Weddle would write two essays about her life, she could earn her diploma.

"She made good grades while in school," Wood said. "She was regretting she didn't finish high school. She fully expected to graduate school while in Michigan, but everything went bad for her."

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Weddle was born in Bald Knob and her family moved to Bradford when she was 8. She made friends and memories in the small White County town, often playing in a wooded area near a pond. Moss on the ground served as carpeting for their playhouse, she said.

She enjoyed her schooling, but in 1943 her father moved to Michigan to seek work with an automotive manufacturer during World War II, and the family followed in December that year -- three months before her class was to graduate.

She enrolled at two Michigan schools, but her father lost jobs, they were forced to move and she could not earn her diploma. When her mother died in 1944, the family returned to Arkansas.

"I thought, 'Forget it,'" she said about receiving the diploma. "But I never really did forget it."

After her husband contacted Wood in Bradford, Weddle wrote her essays, influenced by reading Tom Brokaw's book The Greatest Generation.

She wrote of her father being injured in World War I and of traveling to Italy to see the grave of her uncle, who was killed in that war.

"You could tell she had a grasp of both English and history," Wood said. "She wrote a synopsis of her life and it was well done."

In November, Wood called Weddle and asked her what name she wanted on her Bradford High School diploma.

"I could hardly wait for it to come in the mail," she said.

She received it Nov. 21.

"When I saw it, I was overwhelmed," Weddle said. "I broke up. It was so exciting."

Weddle said her mother was a teacher and that was an inspiration to her.

"I didn't want everyone thinking I wasn't very smart for not having a high school diploma," she said. "It all worked out for the best. I think it was a godsend. Why did I think of calling Bradford when I did?"

Wood will invite Weddle to join the other 27 seniors at Bradford High School's graduation ceremony in May.

Because of health issues, Weddle said she doubts she can make the trip back to Arkansas.

"It's an exciting thing for Bradford," Wood said. "If she can't make it, I am sure we'll have a picture of Ellen and we'll make a statement."

Weddle said she was glad she stuck with her desire to earn the diploma.

"Everyone knows I'm not going to go out and get a job now with this diploma," she said. "But this is a dream that I didn't think would be fulfilled."

State Desk on 12/06/2016

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