64-year-old says never too late to follow dreams, returns to college post stroke

LITTLE ROCK (KATV) — It's a promise Phyllis Currin made to herself more than 40 years ago - no matter what - she is going to graduate from college.

The 64-year-old mother and grandmother had every intention of going to college when she graduated from Hall High School back in the 1970s. Currin said she had secured a band scholarship to help pay for her post-secondary education, but then life got in the way.

"I had to stop school because I got pregnant," said Currin.

That was at age 17. While Currin of course considers the birth of her daughter to be a blessing, a teenage pregnancy was a dash to dreams.

Currin said school wasn't an option when she was married - her husband wasn't a fan of a "working woman".

She'd get her chance to head back to school about five years ago, enrolling in nursing school, but that's when another setback got in the way. That setback was a stroke.

After Currin regained the majority of her physical and verbal abilities, she circled right back to her college dream, even against the wishes of her daughter.

"She don't like me going to school," said Currin. "She said I should just sit there all day and look at TV. I told her - nuh-uh - that's not going to work."

Currin enrolled at UA Pulaski Technical College, taking classes both on campus and online. She's already a little more than halfway to obtaining her associate's degree in business, but Currin said she doesn't have any plans to actually put the degree to work.

"I said when I was 17 and I had to stop school because I got pregnant, I'm going back - that's why I'm back," said Currin, adding that she's also trying to prove she still has a brain post stroke.

While the grandmother's story is certainly inspiring, Currin is no anomaly. There are countless seniors enrolled in college across the state, something Currin's speech communications instructor Kirsten Heintz said is a benefit for all of the students.

"It may be on their bucket list and they're coming back and checking it off," said Heintz of Currin and others seniors' returns to college. "I think that's great not only for them, but for our students in class who can benefit from their knowledge and what they've been through and what they bring to the classroom."

Currin said she's taking it slowly and doesn't expect to graduate for another year or two, but said once she has her associate's degree in hand, it's off to UA Little Rock to get her bachelor's degree.