Ohio woman receives HS diploma at 93; marriage foiled degree

AKRON, OH (AP) — A 93-year-old Ohio woman has received the high school diploma she was denied because of rules that expelled married students.

Dorothy Liggett was a few weeks from graduation from Akron’s North High School in 1942 when officials discovered she was married.

The Akron Beacon Journal reports that Akron Superintendent David James hand-delivered the diploma to Liggett in suburban Fairlawn on Wednesday as part of a surprise ceremony.

Liggett’s daughter Janice Larkin had written James about her mother. James said it was wrong that Liggett was denied the diploma after being a good student all her years in school.

Liggett and her late husband, John Huston, ran away to Kentucky to get married after her husband was called into the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II.

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