CONCORD, N.H. – It was Harriet Richardson Ames' dream to earn her
bachelor's degree in education. She finally reached that milestone,
nearly three weeks after achieving another: her 100th birthday.
On
Saturday, the day after receiving her diploma at her bedside, the
retired schoolteacher died, pleased that she had accomplished her goal,
her daughter said. Ames had been in hospice care.
"She had what I call a 'bucket list,' and that was the last thing on it," Marjorie Carpenter said Tuesday.
Ames, who turned 100 on Jan. 2, had earned a two-year teaching certificate in 1931 at Keene Normal School, now Keene State College.
She taught in a one-room schoolhouse in South Newbury, and later spent
20 years as a teaching principal at Memorial School in Pittsfield,
where she taught first-graders.
Through the years, she had taken classes at the University of New Hampshire, Plymouth Teachers College
and Keene State to earn credits for her degree. With her eyesight
failing, she stopped after retiring in 1971 and was never sure if she
had enough credits.
Her wish for a degree became
known when a Keene State film professor interviewed her a couple of
years ago for a piece on the college's own centennial, which the school
celebrated last year.
The school decided to
research her coursework and see if it could award Ames her long-sought
diploma. The offices of the provost, registrar and other departments
worked quickly in the last month to determine, that indeed, it could. MORE>>>>>>>>>>>>>