Joyce DeFauw, then Joyce Viola Kane started college at Northern Illinois University in 1951. Joyce met her future husband Don Freeman Sr. at a church and even though Joyce had already gone to school for three and a half years she decided to leave after she met Don. The two got married in 1955 and went on to have 3 children before Don passed away. Joyce eventually remarried Roy Defauw and they had 6 children and now have 17 grandchildren with 24 great-grandchildren. When 2019 began, Joyce wanted to pursue the education she had left behind and found encouragement from her grandchild Jenna Dooley, who is an alumnus of NIU so Joyce decided to go back to college. Her children and grandchildren helped her set up a computer at home right as the Covid-19 pandemic hit so Joyce was all ready for online schooling. At times Joyce said she wanted to quit but now three years later she put on her cap and gown and received a Bachelor of General Studies degree. Joyce is very thankful she had the opportunity to go back to school as she had said “It’s nice to finish something you started.”

https://www.waow.com/news/education/71-years-after-starting-college-a-90-year-old-woman-is-graduating/article_ffc1bb3d-b557-5e05-8031-eab2a0a2dc0a.html#:~:text=A%2090%2Dyear%2Dold%20woman%20will%20finally%20walk%20across%20the,a%20degree%20in%20home%20economics.