With only a couple of months until his 100th birthday, Leo Plass must have learnt a lot from the University of Life.
But the Oregon man who dropped out of college just short of graduation in 1932 has returned to get his degree aged 99.
‘Never dreamed of something like this happening to me,’ said Mr Plass who received an associate’s degree from East Oregon University in La Grande. ‘It’s out of this world.’
Mr Plass was less than one semester away from graduating and starting a career as a teacher, when he dropped out to take up a job in logging aged 20.
He explained that it was the Depression and the teaching salary of $80 a month was not enough, so when a friend offered him a job he could not refuse.
‘He offered me $150, and it was the Great Depression,’ Mr Plass said.
‘That was a lot of money - a lot of money.’
But Mr Plass later discovered that he was only a few credits short of getting his degree.
‘They told me I just had three hours to go. I said, “Gee, too bad you didn’t tell me that then, I would have stayed there all night to just get those three hours in”,’ he told KTVZ.
The 99-year-old has just returned to finally pick up his college diploma.
He said that he is not really sure why he wanted to be a teacher, but thinks he fellow graduates could learn some things.
They don’t teach youngsters things they need to know about,’ he said.
‘When I was in school, that’s about all they did teach. You learned how to cook, you learned how to sew and how to type.’
And the spritely carpenter who is looking forward to celebrating his 100th birthday said that the secret to his long life has been food and family.
‘Good family, good life, good food,’ Mr Plass said. ;I had two good cooks, my mother and my wife. Everything good seemed to work for me.
