SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - A diminutive grandmother donned a cap and gown and fulfilled a dream she had abandoned 80 years earlier -- she got her high school diploma.
"I felt like I had missed something," Josephine Belasco said when asked what inspired her to complete the schooling she began at Galileo High School when it opened in 1924.
"I thought, gee, if I could ever get that, I'd have a fruitful life."
Born in Calabria, Italy, in November of 1907, Belasco was 18 when she moved to San Francisco with her family.
She was one semester shy of graduating from Galileo when she dropped out to care for a severely ill sister and took a job with an insurance company to help support her family.
Her career as an accountant spanned 36 years. She married and became a mother, then a grandmother.
A grandson inspired her to go back to school and get her diploma, she said.
School officials still had her records on file, and arranged for her to earn an honorary diploma by completing tutoring sessions with Galileo students. The typical ages of high school graduates there are 17 or 18 years old.
Belasco held a white flower as she was escorted to her chair on stage during the high school graduation ceremony on Wednesday.
Her late-in-life accomplishment garnered nationwide attention, including a telephone call at home from late night television show host Jay Leno.
"I'm over the sun and the moon," Belasco said after getting her diploma. "I'm just stunned. I can't believe it mushroomed like this."
that was so beautiful! it is so amazing that her records were still on file... it's like she wasn't forgotten! happy stories of old people, or children, or animals are the best!
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You should fear anything that can bleed for seven days without dying... (as told to Mr. DS on 3-12-10)
that was so beautiful! it is so amazing that her records were still on file... it's like she wasn't forgotten! happy stories of old people, or children, or animals are the best! 