A New York grandmother finally received her high school diploma after being forced to drop out by her stepmother 75 years ago.
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Eileen Delaney of Staten Island earned the honorary high school diploma from Port Richmond High School on her 93rd birthday earlier this month. She said she was forced to drop out of high school halfway through her senior year in 1945 because her stepmother wanted her to work and pay rent. At the age of 18, Delaney started working for the New York Telephone Company and said she was thankful for the job because she didn’t need her diploma.
‘She insisted my senior year that I got to work, that if I was going to live in the house that I paid rent, and I had no choice,’
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Delaney said she later met her husband, Eugene A. Delaney, and the pair now has six children, eight grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren. One of her nieces organized the surprise with the high school’s alumni association and said her grandaughter says her grandmother has done so much for the family and wanted to give her something she could cherish.
The grandmother says she doesn’t have any regrets about her life but was happy to finally receive her diploma.
‘I’m very lucky. I’ve had a good life, This was like the topping on the cake.’
SOURCE: Daily MailÂ