"A lot of us get sidetracked or whatever, but go back. Don’t give up,” Joyce Viola DeFauw said.
At what is now Northern Illinois University, Joyce Viola DeFauw entered college for the first time in 1951 to study early elementary education before switching to home economics. After three and a half years, she left school to marry her first husband and take care of her family. “I went three and a half years and then I quit,” Joyce explained to WBRC. “In the meantime, I met this gentleman who stole my heart and eye, and we decided to get married.”
Joyce remarried after her first husband passed away, and they had more kids. But the mother of nine, who is now a grandma of 17 and great-grandmother of 26, never forgot about her education. "I must have told the children that I wish I'd finished back in the 1950s," Joyce recalled to Good Morning America. "And so, they suggested that I go back and I thought, 'Well, OK,' but I needed a computer … and they got one for me and so I've been able to use it and enjoy it since." The resilient 90-year-old great-grandmother has now achieved the dream of finishing her graduation.
But her journey was not an easy one with aging, hip surgery, and eventually moving into a retirement home. Joyce re-enrolled at NIU in August 2019 and started taking online courses for a bachelor's degree in general studies through the university's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Though terrified by her first computer, she learned how to operate it despite successes and setbacks, she told NIU Newsroom.
Joyce DeFauw, then Joyce Viola Kane, started her freshman year at Northern Illinois University in 1951 with a plan to graduate with a degree in home economics.https://t.co/09TGIfZEiK
— CBS 58 News (@CBS58) December 11, 2022
One of the oldest persons to graduate from NIU, she is a believer in education. “You can’t put a value on it, in my opinion,” she said. But she is also a believer. “I’ve learned that I can do things I never thought I could do, with the help of others. You can never quit learning,” she added. “Just don’t give up. I mean if you have the opportunity, take that opportunity, and you never know. A lot of us get sidetracked or whatever, but go back. Don’t give up,” she continued.
Joyce experienced moments of difficulty but never gave up. She resides in a retirement community in Geneseo, Illinois. When COVID struck they brought her meals as couldn't leave her room. She was grateful to be able to do things on her computer. Nonetheless, the seclusion and difficulties with her studies bothered her on occasion. “A lot of times I would have quit. I almost did,” she says. “There were just too many people who knew about it. I didn’t want to let them down. I quit once and I was like, ‘I don’t want to do it again.’”
Judy Santacaterina, director of the Bachelor of General Studies program at NIU, is one of the many "passionate professors" she has studied from. “I have a picture of Joyce in my office,” Santacaterina says. “She gave it to me when we first met. On days when I find myself a little discouraged, overwhelmed and questioning my abilities, I look at her picture and find new inspiration and motivation,” she added.
Joyce Viola DeFauw first enrolled in college back in 1951, but after three-and-a-half years, she left to get married and raise a family. https://t.co/Bpw9dg36pr
— 106.7 the Eagle (@1067theEagle) December 12, 2022
NIU President Dr. Lisa Freeman said, "Joyce DeFauw is an inspiration, a trailblazer, and now a Northern Illinois University college graduate. She has beautifully shown that earning a degree is life-changing at any age and that it's never too late to pursue new knowledge." Joyce said she is really grateful and thrilled to have been able to accomplish her significant milestone as she prepares to graduate this weekend. "I could just jump and shout and run and howl," the 90-year-old matriarch said.
References:
https://newsroom.niu.edu/you-can-never-quit-learning/
Cover Image Source: Facebook | Northern Illinois University
