Advertisement Gillespie will realize her lifelong dream of getting a high school diploma when she graduates from the Goal Oriented Adult Learning program at Western Technical College on June 5.
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At almost 70 years old, Willie Mae Gillespie of Onalaska has realized her lifelong dream of getting a high school diploma, thanks to the Goal Oriented Learning Program at Western Technical College.
Photo by Jo Anne Killeen |
Gillespie, who will be 70 in July, is one of the four students who will speak at the ceremony recognizing 400 GOAL graduates this year.
She joked that fellow students just called her “Grandma” because Fred, a classmate, is one month younger. He started calling her Grandma and the name stuck with her classmates.
Being around younger folks energized her, Gillespie said. “When I’m in school, I don’t feel like a great-grandmother,” she said. “I’m always learning.”
Gillespie always told her children, grandchildren, foster children and anyone else in her life who would listen that she was determined to go back and get her high school diploma. That time finally came.
Originally from West Point, Miss., Gillespie’s family moved to Milwaukee when she was 5 years old. She said she never did well in school, with a speech impediment making her painfully shy.
Gillespie married at 16 years old and had her first of five children when she was 17. Her husband was in the military, so the family moved a lot. They also raised three grandchildren and foster-parented about 15 children with special needs and kids in treatment programs.
“These are children no one wants,” she said. “It had to be God who give me that big a heart.”
When she did have extra time through the years to go back to school, other obstacles arose. “The times I could have gone to school, we had only one car or no car,” Gillespie said. “The challenges kept coming, but I always said ‘I’m going to do this.’”
After her husband retired from the Army, they moved to Onalaska in June 2005 to be closer to their son Ernest, who owns the Cognac Club in downtown La Crosse. Even today, Gillespie has two foster children in her home in Onalaska.
“I had time on my hands,” Gillespie quipped when asked why she went back after all these years. Her husband of 52 years died in June 2007 and, running out of excuses and not wanting to waste any more time, she started back to school in January 2008.
“I didn’t want to make any more excuses,” she said. “I’m like the bumblebee. The bumblebee made everyone to believe he could fly even though the odds were against him because his wings were too small for his body weight. How can this be that he can fly? The same way I can realize my dream — with help from God. It’s all about what God wants.”
Gillespie is as adamant about education as she is about God.
“Education is something no one can take from you,” she said. “I tell all my children and grandchildren, ‘get an education. It’s your future. What you are doing right now in school is going to open doors.’”
If there was any gift she could give to her grandchildren, it would be education.
“I’ve lived a long life,” she said. “I’ve made mistakes. If I had to do it all over again, I would most certainly put education first.”
Even though she had a hard time adjusting to the daily routine of being in classrooms four hours a day, she can’t believe she is finally achieving her goal. She worked with two tutors) to get her through math.
“Math was the hardest,” she said. “Especially fractions. There were days I really felt like, ‘oh, no, not another day.’ But I would lay there in bed and think about it. ‘This is your dream,’ she told herself. ‘Only you can do it.’”
The flexibility of the GOAL program was what attracted her to sign up for school and take four classes a day. With a flexible schedule, she could be sure to be home by the time the two foster children get home from school.
“What I liked was you could work at your own pace,” she said. “You could pick your own schedule. It’s good for working adults.”
The only thing that intimidated her about returning to school was getting jostled by rowdy students. Gillespie said she needs both knees replaced and she was afraid of getting knocked down accidentally.
“But they were all so nice, so polite, opening doors for me,” she said.
Now that she has completed her diploma requirements, Gillespie is already setting her sights on more education. She works with two churches on food ministries, and she wants to obtain ministry training so she can be visit shut-in elderly or disabled people and encourage them and just show them someone cares.
Without the diploma, she could never even set her sights higher. She is excited as she sees a whole new world opening to her.
“When I got my cap and gown, I was so happy, I thought I was getting married,” she said jubilantly. “I asked, ‘where’s the ring?’”
