After nearly 8 decades, 97-year-old Margaret Thome Bekema displayed an honorary degree from Catholic Central High in October 2015.
“I thank you from the bottom of my heart,” an emotional Bekema said after receiving her diploma from Catholic Central director Greg Deja, at a ceremony attended by the woman's family and friends in the senior community of Yorkshire and Stoneridge Manor.
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Bekema gets emotional as she talks about the circumstances that prevented her from graduating with her Class of 1936. She dropped out of high school because her mother, Katherine, was sick with cancer and she was asked by her father, Leo Thome, to look after her and her siblings while he worked. She had 3 younger brothers, two of whom were much younger.
She said leaving school at the age of 17 broke her heart. “I had to leave school to take care of my family,” said Bekema, who claimed that she cooked, cleaned and did all their laundry. “It was hard, you have no idea how hard it was. I loved high school and had lots of friends.”
Bekema, who said she was an A-B student, proudly sported her blue graduation cap and gold strings of honor. She also received a certificate as the newest member of the school's alumni association, “The Pride”.
“Her life has been one of sacrifice and work,” Deja said. "And it's been so encouraging and inspiring to our community because their choices represent all of the core values that we teach our students."
Bekema, a widow, has 4 grandchildren and a great-grandchild. She said she loved working preschool at Grace Episcopal Church for 17 years. “The school principal was an angel, and we had a few little pistols,” said Bekema, who said he later worked in an office for a government agency during the Second World War.
Her husband, Ted, was a military man. She said they had a good life together. Sister Maureen Geary, the daughter of cousin Marian de Bekema, contacted the school in August about the honorary degree. She said she had been thinking about it for a while.
“She's been so dedicated her whole life,” said Geary, who claimed Bekema took care of her when she was a baby for around 6 weeks while her mother was sick. Bekema said she loves people and faith was central to family life.
