Jaye

This is a story about the importance of an education and the persistence to realize that goal. As an example I’ll relate the experiences of two people I still admire.
The first was a man who immigrated to this country with his family as a young boy in the early 1900’s. His father was a coal miner and, when he died suddenly, the boy, at age 13, quit school to work in the mines to help support his mother and 5 younger siblings.
He quit to join the US Army Air Corps during WW I. and served at different air fields in France. After the war he returned to work in the coal industry, but in  management roles.
He got his high school diploma, and as he rose through the management ranks, continued his education by taking college courses. He got a degree and went on to law school. He was in his 50’s when he got his law degree. Think about it. From working in the mines at 13 to getting a law degree. The second is about a lady who dropped out of college, got married, and started a family. When her kids were old enough to have a sitter, she decided to go back to school and got a degree in education. After teaching at the high school level for several years, she decided she wanted to go into accounting. She went back to college and took enough accounting credits to get a degree in accounting.
She worked for an accounting firm for several years, then started her own firm. She ended up with, among her clients, a doctor, a trucking co., a taxi cab co., and convenience stores. She sold her firm, moved to another area of the country, and continued working in the industry at another accounting firm where she was part of a team that audited colleges and universities.
She caught the attention of a university looking for a CPA to be their Director of Budgets and Business Affairs and took their job offer. ( Unbelievably, one of her responsibilities was the management of a university owned golf course,) She retired some years later as Director of Information Technologies. Think of it. From a college drop-out to IT Director of a major graduate university.
She was my wife Carol, and the man was her father.