An 87-YEAR-OLD GRADUATE

“No, seriously!” I pleaded, and said I was merely curious as to what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.

Rose gave me her answer: “I always dreamed of having a college education and now I’m getting one!” she told me.

There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humor every day. You’ve got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die.

If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don’t do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight.

The elderly usually don’t have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets.”

At the year’s end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago.

One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep.