At 91, Colbert’s Foley becomes family’s newest — and oldest — college graduate
Mary Foley put on her cap and gown and settled in for her college graduation ceremony, which was live-streamed at her son’s home in Hull on Saturday.
She would’ve loved to have joined her classmates, but at 91 years old, it was best to watch on TV instead of traveling to Columbia, Missouri.
“I guess I’m the oldest,” Foley joked. “It’s humbling.”
Foley, who lives in Colbert, graduated from the University of Missouri last week, about 65 years after she left school to raise a family.
She officially earned her bachelor’s degree, thanks to the same pro-family mindset she embodied decades ago. Foley was joined on the stream by members of her extended family, eager to see her name called.
“Mizzou’s current academic policies and processes allow us to bestow Mary with her degree that she has earned and deserves,” Missouri Vice Provost Jim Spain said in a university release. “We are excited to have her as a member of the May 2024 graduating class of the University of Missouri.”
Foley began attending Southwest Missouri State, now known as Missouri State, in 1950, and started her pursuit of a degree in elementary education.
Five years later, after taking a hiatus from school and marrying her husband Charles, she enrolled at Missouri, where he was completing his master’s and Ph.D.
She nearly accrued enough credits to graduate, but by the time of her final semester, plans had changed.
“I got pregnant, and we had a child on the way, so I dropped out,” she said.
Foley had four children in five years, starting in 1958. During those years, her children “became priority,” said her son Chuck, and her education was put on the backburner.
In 1975, she considered the possibility of finishing her degree at Missouri. According to the university, however, her “degree requirements had changed,” leaving her with multiple semesters of work to complete, rather than the “one elective and six hours of practice teaching” previously anticipated by Foley.
She didn’t re-enroll, citing a change in the landscape of education as a prominent reason.
“I didn’t want to teach, I decided by then, anyway,” she said. “There was a surplus of teachers. When I first started there was a shortage of teachers.”
Foley eventually settled in Oglethorpe County, after her husband accepted a position at the University of Georgia’s College of Veterinary Medicine.
In addition to her four children, her family includes 11 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
It was the curiosity and help of Brandon Droy, her 33-year-old grandson, that resulted in Foley receiving her bachelor’s degree in general studies.
“We all talk about Grandpa’s education, his Ph.D. and all the various universities he worked at,” Droy said. “I had never heard my grandpa say anything about her degree, so I asked, ‘Grandma, did you go to college?’ ”
When Droy learned that his grandmother could be on the cusp of graduating, he reached out to Missouri a few weeks ago, inquiring on the status of Foley’s degree.
Following the university’s review of Foley’s transcript, Droy received an email on April 30 notifying him of his grandmother's eligibility to graduate at the end of the spring semester.
“He initiated. He contacted the University and asked to get my records,” Foley said. “He asked them what I would need to finish, and when they checked my records, they said, ‘She has enough for a general studies degree,’ I hadn’t even thought about it until my grandson asked me.”
Foley’s name was the first to be called at the graduation ceremony for the College of Arts and Science. For her son Chuck, this achievement symbolizes a lifelong commitment to family and to her home state of Missouri.
“It’s incredible — so proud of her,” he said. “We have such a Missouri tie. All four of us kids went there, and Dad got his three degrees there. We lived there for 15 years. It was a great place to grow up.”