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Our State/October/Tar Heel People/1,414 words Senior Class's Senior Citizen By Ralph Grizzle In May of this year, about a hundred St. Andrews Presbyterian College students marched across the stage to receive their diplomas. Among them was Aberdeen, North Carolina, resident Margaret McLeod, age 78. That McLeod donned her cap and gown to accept her diploma was not all that unusual, given that we're living in an age where every day brings news of some senior citizen performing a remarkable feat. No, the story here is not about what McLeod learned, but about what she taught. "We were all adult students going for the same goal," says classmate Kim Garner, a mere 38. "That goal being a college degree. Miss Margaret, as she was known to all of us, had the attitude of 'We can do this.' She was the reason I made it to class on several occasions. I knew if she could do it at age 78, then I had no excuse. We all pulled together to make it through, and she was the leader who would not let us give up." McLeod enrolled at St. Andrews, a private, four-year college in Laurinburg, with 90 credit hours that she had earned six decades ago at Flora MacDonald College in Red Springs. There, she worked in the laundry room to earn enough money to pay the $800 in annual tuition. After four years, she graduated with a certificate that would allow her to teach elementary school. But the year was 1942. McLeod joined the war effort instead, signing on as an accounting technician at Fort Bragg. The government job paid $80 a week and required that she commute 60 miles to and from the military installation in Fayetteville. McLeod commuted for 43 years, retiring from her civilian post in 1985 so that she could care for her aging mother. Taking a job closer to home, McLeod worked as a library assistant at the Moore County Public Library, but when her mother fell and broke her hip in 1993, McLeod chucked that position to devote her time to her mother. Eventually, McLeod was forced to move her mother to a retirement home. The devoted daughter visited her mother every day, showing up at 6 in the morning and sticking by her side until 9 each night. "When my mother was sleeping, I helped others who were in the same hall as her," McLeod says. "That got me interested in human services and helping others." McLeod's mother died in 1997, at the age of 95, but before her death, she encouraged her daughter to return to school. "We talked about it many times, and she kept asking, 'Well, when are you going to do it?' " McLeod says. "But, of course, I didn't want to let on that I would leave her. When she died I was at loose ends, so I decided I would go back to school and get a degree" McLeod buried her mother in June and began classes in September. She needed only 45 credit hours to earn a degree in psychology with a specialized study in human services. She worried that she would not be able to remember the course material. And she wasn't quite sure how she would fit in. "I had never known of anybody my age who had gone back to college," she says. But her classmates embraced her. They invited her to parties and included her on group activities. They helped to steer her on the right course. "Some of the girls told me where to buy a backpack," she says. "They made me feel younger. I still haven't realized that I'm in my late 70s." With her backpack strapped firmly on her shoulders, McLeod began attending classes. One of her first courses: statistics; it nearly got the best of her. Nonetheless, McLeod managed a grade-point-average of 3.336 in her major, providing her with a comfortable margin above the 3.0 grade-point-average required to graduate. During the course of her school career, the students and professors realized that McLeod had life experiences that contributed to everyone's learning. "During class discussions, she always had something to add that the book did not mention," Garner says. "She knew what really happened, because she was there living in some of the time periods we discussed. She had the life experiences of World War II and of the Depression. And she could set the professors straight about what happened during those times. They would never rebuke her. They knew that she knew more about certain issues than they did." Born in Aberdeen, McLeod recalls the hard years of the Depression. Her father, a building contractor, watched his work wither away. Once prosperous, he was forced to do odd jobs. To help support the family, McLeod's mother went to work for a dimestore downtown. "We would go to the store to see how much candy we could buy with a penny," McLeod says. "I used to get a long peppermint stick and make it last for hours. I had to make it last for hours. It was the only one I was going to get." Occasionally, McLeod could scrape up a dime to go to the movie house in Southern Pines, particularly if the movie showing starred Bette Davis or Robert Taylor. "We loved Bette Davis," McLeod says. "And, of course, in those days, it was cool to smoke. We always talked about how Bette Davis could smoke that cigarette." McLeod was so enamored of Davis that in 1950 she wrote the Hollywood star. Davis was to come to Chapel Hill for a performance. McLeod wrote to ask if Davis would be willing to meet her. To McLeod's surprise, Davis responded that she would be "delighted to meet her backstage." Two weeks before the performance, the show was canceled. "It was the biggest letdown that any of us [McLeod and her girlfriends] had ever had," McLeod says. But McLeod kept Davis's letter and used it in one of her classes at St. Andrews. She had chosen to present the star's biography as a book report, and as part of her presentation, she passed the letter around for her classmates to read. Some of the young students, who ranged in age from 19 to 45, had never heard of Davis, so McLeod brought in a video tape of "Dark Victory," a 1939 flick starring Davis. "They thought it was wonderful," McLeod says. "And they were surprised they hadn't heard of her." While her classmates wore jeans and sneakers, Miss Margaret showed up for classes in a skirt and neatly pressed blouse. "She is a lady in every respect," Garner says. "And she called us her children. She was always looking out for her children." McLeod never married, feeling that her responsibility was to care for her family. Her father died in 1964, and a brother passed away in 1991. "I was there for them all the time," she says. "I have no regrets that I didn't marry. I'm very satisfied with my life and the way that things have gone." Satisfied because the motto emblazoned on her mind is "keep on learning." "A lot of the people my age are in the cemetery," she says. "Almost everyday I see where someone I know has died or had a stroke. I feel like the Lord has blessed me with my health. In my work, I feel like I am giving something back. I saw what went on in the nursing home, and I thought that helping someone else . . . well, that would be a wonderful way to end my life." With the ink still fresh on her diploma, McLeod works with the developmentally disabled, a job she calls "most rewarding." But McLeod's impact goes further than those she works with. She has helped out more than she will ever know. On graduation day, as the senior class's senior student walked across the stage, the class of 2000 gave a big cheer. In acknowledgment, McLeod threw up her hands and smiled broadly. "We were all so proud of her and grateful to have her as part of our college life," Garner says. "She gave us all reassurance when we needed it, and she will always be loved by the class of 2000. I can't wait to see what she does for our 10-year reunion. Yes, she will be there I am sure with bells on her toes and words of wisdom for us all." |
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