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Ohio woman, 106, finally gets high school diploma

With friends and family watching, Reba Williams, 106, receives her high school diploma from Mount Vernon Schools Superintendent Steve Short (not shown) at her home in Columbus, Ohio, on Wednesday,. Williams said she completed high school in Ohio but was denied her diploma because she refused to read a final book assigned by a teacher. She’d read it once and didn’t want to read it again.

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THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

March 14, 2013 - 8:22 am

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A 106-year-old central Ohio woman who completed classes but didn’t graduate in a dispute over a book has received her high school diploma.

The News Journal in Mansfield (http://ohne.ws/15OcL2x ) reports the Mount Vernon superintendent presented Reba Williams with the diploma Wednesday at her apartment in Columbus. She even got to wear a traditional graduation cap brought by the retired Mount Vernon English teacher who urged the school board to award the diploma.

Williams has said she completed high school in Mount Vernon but was denied her diploma because she refused to read a final book assigned by a teacher. She’d read the book once and didn’t want to read it again.

Williams says she hopes current students realize that learning is important and that they probably shouldn’t follow her example.

———

Information from: News Journal, http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com

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