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At 74, she drops back in

Almost six decades after leaving high school, Thelma Ruiz decided it was time she got a diploma. After two tries, she did.

By EDDY RAMIREZ
Published May 17, 2006

INVERNESS — There was a time when Thelma “Timi’’ Ruiz thought she had everything a septuagenarian could ask for — good health, beautiful grandchildren and a loving husband.

But recently, something began to gnaw at the 74-year-old retired postal worker: She had never finished high school.

She was 16 when a charming musician swept into town and asked her to marry him. Ruiz, who never cared much for books, decided to drop out.

Fifty-eight years later, Ruiz will receive the one thing that has eluded her all these years: a diploma.

She is being recognized at a commencement ceremony today. School officials think she is the oldest person in Citrus County to have earned a GED, the equivalent of a high school diploma.

Statewide, 18 people 74 or older passed the General Educational Development test last year, according to the Florida Department of Education.

Ruiz, who has spent the past decade traveling the country with her husband, Don, said she has gotten an education by visiting libraries, studying the Bible and life. She has a message for those who think they’re too old to go back to school. “If you stop learning, you may as well drop dead,’’ she said.

Ruiz began considering going back for her diploma about two years ago. Her son, Terry Karanen, 51, a flight attendant, was going back to college to finish his degree.

“She told me, 'If you can do it, I can do it, too,’’’ Karanen said. “I could tell this was something she really wanted.’’

Ruiz was never in one place long enough to take the classes that would help her get a GED. Since 1996, she and her husband had been crisscrossing the country in their motor home. (License plate: I-R-TRVLN.)

***

In November, the Santa Barbara, Calif., couple took a break from the road and rented a spot at a motor home park in Inverness. Ruiz, who always made a point of visiting a library wherever they stopped, went to Lakes Region Library and asked about a library card.

Although she had trouble reading as a girl, Ruiz now savored books, especially on religion, history and philosophy. She said she became a voracious reader after studying the Bible and becoming a Jehovah’s Witness. She has library cards that allow her to check out books in Yelm, Wash.; Bangor, Pa.; Centerville, Ohio; and several cities in California.

At the Inverness library, Ruiz learned she could sign up for GED classes at a vocational school.

“This time, I’m going to do this,’’ she thought. “It’s about time I get my GED.’’

That same day, she enrolled at the Withlacoochee Technical Institute.

All she needed to do was pass a seven-hour series of tests.

The GED tests measure abilities in reading, writing, math, science and social studies. In 2005, 46,277 adults statewide took the tests.  Seventy-one  percent passed.

Ruiz was unsuccessful on her first attempt in January. She scored above the 90th percentile in reading and writing, but missed the passing score in math by 10 points.

Ruiz wasn’t surprised.

She had never taken geometry in high school. How could she be expected to know about the Pythagorean Theorem? She had taken some algebra but couldn’t remember basic arithmetic like ratios or how to take the square root of a number. “Math was a foreign language to me.’’

***

Al Mitchell, a teacher who oversees GED classes in Citrus, encouraged Ruiz to try again.

“She would say she was old enough to be the grandmother of some students in the room,’’ Mitchell said. “But she was determined to get her GED.’’

Ruiz started going to classes three days a week for three hours each day. She brushed up on her math skills by watching videotapes and going over practice tests. And she learned to use a scientific calculator even though she had never seen one.

In the evenings, Ruiz sat in the shade of her mobile home and cracked open her math book. Pencil and paper in hand, she scribbled formulas until she committed them to memory.

All the while, her husband offered to cook and clean. “I was her gofer,’’ he said.

The hard studying paid off. After her second try in March, Ruiz learned she had passed the math test. A week later, she received her diploma.

She was overwhelmed by a sense of accomplishment. “It was an empty page at the end of a chapter that I finally was able to fill,’’ she said.
Graduation cards began arriving.

One was from her son.

“I’m so proud of you,’’ he wrote. “Now you have a genuine piece of paper to prove what we already know: You be one smart momma!’’

Eddy Ramirez can be reached at 860-7305 or eramirez@sptimes.com.

[Last modified May 17, 2006, 22:40:38]