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101-Year-Old Woman Receives Degree From WKU
Bowling Green, Ky. - Smiling broadly and waving a red towel, 101-year-old Josephine Isbell Miller received her degree from Western Kentucky University on Wednesday afternoon at the Jefferstown City Hall Chambers.
“It seems as I think about the closing years of my life how much Western has meant to my family and me that I indeed treasure and appreciate it now so much,” Miller said. “Now I’ll say thanks even though it doesn’t express my gratitude to all of Western.” Miller, a Muhlenberg County native, passed a state teaching examination as a high school junior and began her teaching career in Muhlenberg and McLean counties. She continued teaching while attending Western from 1926 to 1938. Her husband, Emmitt, also was an educator. When Miller left Western in 1938, she was 12 credit hours from her teaching degree. Sarah Snyder, Miller’s daughter, said her mother always wanted that degree even as other family members graduated from Western. After Miller’s story was told by Courier-Journal columnist Byron Crawford, WKU administrators decided to award her a bachelor of science degree in education as part of the University’s 158th Commencement. “We’re honored to share this moment with you,” WKU President Gary Ransdell said. “You’ve been a part of this University family for a long time. But now you’re an official University graduate. “I’m curious to know what job you’re going to apply for,” he asked. “Are you sure you want to make a long-term commitment to this teaching profession?” “If you bring the children to my home, I’ll do it,” Miller said. More than 1,200 other students will join Miller as new graduates Saturday morning at Diddle Arena. At Wednesday’s ceremony, Dr. Ransdell was joined by Dr. Barbara Burch, WKU provost; Dr. Luther Hughes, associate vice president for enrollment management; and Dr. Sam Evans, dean of the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences. Wearing a cap and gown, Miller smiled and waved to about 70 family members, former students and friends as the special ceremony began with the traditional “Pomp and Circumstance” playing in the background. “It is with pleasure that I recommend that the bachelor of science be conferred upon this candidate who, by the application of her abilities to her assigned duties, has completed the degree program and has demonstrated her qualifications for this high recognition,” Dr. Burch said. “Representing Western Kentucky University,” Dr. Ransdell said, “I hereby confer upon this graduate the degree which has been earned, such degree to be a fact accomplished when the diploma is presented in testimony of this achievement.” Dr. Evans, who presented the diploma along with Dr. Ransdell, said Miller “did it all” when her teaching career began in a one-room school. “It is our pleasure to present you with this diploma,” Dr. Evans said. Miller then pulled a red towel from beneath her gown and began waving it as those in attendance gave her a standing ovation. She also received a copy of Saturday’s Commencement program and a Centennial pin along with other WKU gifts. Dr. Hughes told Miller that she’s still having an impact on students today, including one Muhlenberg County freshman who stopped by his office to tell him that Miller had been her grandfather’s first-grade teacher. “The people of Muhlenberg County and Bremen have not forgotten you at all,” he said. Miller was born Nov. 8, 1904, in Muhlenberg County, and has lived in Louisville since 1984. Besides education, she has participated in church and community activities and was a founder and charter member of the Sacramento (Ky.) Homemakers Club. She had breast cancer surgery in 1947 and colon cancer surgery in 1966 and has been cancer free since then. The Rev. Sanford Hill of Jefferstown Baptist Church said Miller “certainly has taught all of us very valuable life lessons,” he said. “We are all in her debt.”
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