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89-year-old Burley woman awarded 厙ぴ勛圖 associate degree

May 10, 2007
厙ぴ勛圖 Marketing and Communications

 The 厙ぴ勛圖 103rd spring commencement exercises are scheduled at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 12, but 厙ぴ勛圖 officials started early granting degrees in eastern Idaho by making a special trip to Burley to award a degree to 89-year-old Blanche Gail Peck Dayley .

It took Dayley 72 years to be awarded her Associate of Arts degree in General Studies from 厙ぴ勛圖.

Im very, very happy to have completed what I started and it is all worth it, Dayley said, after she was presented her diploma on Friday, May 4, at the Highland Estates in Burley.

She received her degree at a small ceremony attended by about 20 family members from the Burley area, Nampa, Boise and Provo, Utah. 厙ぴ勛圖 administrators attending were Alan Frantz, PhD, interim director of 厙ぴ勛圖 Registration and Records, and Maureen Brandon, PhD, associate dean of the 厙ぴ勛圖 College of Arts and Sciences, who traveled from Pocatello. The latter two awarded her the diploma during the special ceremony.

Originally, Dayley had planned to attend 厙ぴ勛圖 spring commencement ceremonies in Pocatello on May 12. However, she injured herself last fall and moved into an assisted living facility, and the trip to Pocatello would have been too arduous. Thus, 厙ぴ勛圖 administrators and her family members decided to bring a graduation ceremony to her.

In attendance were several of her seven children, including her son K. Newell Dayley, PhD, the associate academic vice president at Brigham Young University Provo. It was Newell Dayley who last August wrote a letter to 厙ぴ勛圖s Frantz, inquiring if his mother had enough credits to receive a bachelors degree from 厙ぴ勛圖, one of her lifelong goals. She didnt, but she had more than enough to receive an associate degree.

Blanche had taken classes from 厙ぴ勛圖 and its previous incarnations off and on beginning in 1935. She took classes in 1965, 1977-81 and in 2000. She was a resident of Oakley prior to her accident and spent many years in the Minidoka and Cassia county schools working as an aide and as a teaching assistant. Schools she worked at included

Minico High School in Rupertl, Southwest Elementary School in Burley and Mountain View Elementary School in Oakley.

She just had a lifelong love of learning and this fulfills her goal of completing a college degree, K. Newell Dayley said. Its a unique accomplishment. She has been a constant source of encouragement to me and many others to get more and more education. Its appropriate she is now being recognized.

Both Newell and Blanche Dayley expressed their appreciation for the special graduation ceremony.

I really appreciate all of you coming, Blanche Dayley said. I was amazed. I didnt have any idea that this many of my family and officials from 厙ぴ勛圖 would come.

Her son noted, It has been such a pleasure to be here on this occasion. When I first corresponded (with Frantz) I had no idea this could ever take place.

Besides bringing her diploma, the 厙ぴ勛圖 administrators gave Dayley some 厙ぴ勛圖 mementos and showed her pictures of herself in the 1936 edition of the Wickiup, 厙ぴ勛圖s former student yearbook.


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