95-Year-Old Earlene Harvey-Morris Graduates from High School

After Falkland High School closed during the Great Depression, Earlene Harvey-Morris wasn't able to get her diploma. 77 years later, she's finally graduated.

By Kathryn Hawkins. Posted on May 25 2010

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Back in high school, Earlene Harvey-Morris was a good student at Falkville High School in northern Alabama. She was a member of the volleyball team, and had a role in the school play. She couldn’t wait to receive her diploma in May 1933—but when the Great Depression hit, it took her school along with it.

Just months before Harvey-Morris was set to graduate, her school was forced to close because of budget constraints. After the school finally reopened, Harvey-Morris wasn’t able to attend: she lived 10 miles from the school, with no way to get there; and in the interim, she had gotten married. School policy said that all students must be single.

Earlene carried on with her life, raising a son, Bob, in Falkville and weathering the Depression. Still, she was always a little sad about missing her chance to graduate.

Her daughter-in-law, Shelby Morris, decided to do something about that. Recently, Morris contacted the school counselor to see if she might be able to graduate with the class of 2010. “I thought 77 years of life experience would afford her the knowledge necessary for a semester of learning,” she told Decatur Daily.

The school agreed, and even purchased a cap and gown for Harvey-Morris to wear. And on graduation day, she walked across the stage to cheers and applause.

“I think it’s exhilarated her,” said Bob Morris. “She’s finally achieving something that’s obviously meant so much to her.”

Filed under: General Interest,

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