Great-grandmother, 90, graduates from university: ‘I’m very thankful’

A great-grandmother has graduated from college in Chicago, at the grand old age of 90.

Joyce DeFauw picked up her diploma - a Bachelor’s degree in General Studies - on Sunday, as she graduated from Northern Illinois University.

She initially started her studies in 1951 but dropped out to get married and have children.

Now a grandmother of 17 and a great-grandmother of 24, DeFauw said it was her family who encouraged her to return.

“I’m very thankful. Other people have had faith in me, which I don’t have in myself,” she said.

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