T-L File Photo
Georgia McGarry, a 99-year-old woman who dropped out of high school after her junior year in 1943, poses with her new Woodsfield High School 1944 diploma.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Times Leader presents a look back at the past year this week with Eastern Ohio’s Top 10 stories of 2024, as selected by the newspaper’s editorial staff.

SWITZERLAND OF Ohio officials helped 99-year-old Georgia McGarry turn back the clock in August, when it awarded her a diploma 81 years after she dropped out of school during World War II.

The school board presented McGarry her Woodsfield High School diploma after she quit school following her junior year in 1943. McGarry was set to graduate in 1944 but dropped out during the war to join the workforce. She ultimately worked at two pharmacies and other jobs for 42 years.

Instead of receiving a 2024 diploma, McGarry received a 1944 diploma because of a provision in the Ohio Revised Code about women who dropped out of school during the war to join the workforce, leaving McGarry in the Woodsfield High Class of 1944.

McGarry said one of her biggest regrets was dropping out of high school, so a friend of hers, Marie Adams, reached out to Switzerland of Ohio Schools Superintendent Phil Ackerman to fulfill McGarry’s dream.

During a ceremony at Swiss Hills Career Center, complete with piano music from Paula Ring, Monroe Central High School Principal Casey Tolzda presented the diploma to McGarry – and she happily accepted.

“It means a lot,” McGarry said, “and I hope I enjoy it for a while. I really do.”

The diploma is dated May 19. 1944, the date McGarry was set to graduate.

Ackerman said at that date, the most popular song was “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby, the average U.S. salary was $44 dollars a week, the average cost of a new home was $3,450, the cost of a loaf of bread was 10 cents and a gallon of gas 15 cents.

She said she didn’t feel not having a high school diploma affected her throughout her life, as she was able to obtain jobs, yet she still wished she had graduated.

Family and neighbors watched in excitement as McGarry received her diploma after 81 years, congratulating her as she also received a cap and gown to go along with the diploma. Tolzda said this event acknowledged the importance of getting your diploma and setting goals regardless of your age.

“This shows anybody that it’s never too late,” he said. “As I said, to set goals or to finish your degree or to reach your dreams, and for her to do that at 99 years old shows any of us that it’s never too late to make a positive change or reach a goal in your life.”

Tolzda said McGarry is definitely deserving of this honor, because she played a part in America’s history, joining the workforce during the World War II era to help the economy.

As of August, McGarry still resided in Woodsfield, where she can now call herself a 1944 high school graduate.

“It means an awful lot,” she said.