Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 14, 1994 TAG: 9405160140
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CAMERON HUDDLESTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
That's because Liz and Rick Ecklund, 44-year-old parents in Floyd County, spent the past few years continuing their own educations.
Liz graduated first in her class Friday from Virginia Western Community College. Rick, a United Methodist pastor in Floyd County, will receive a master's degree in divinity next Saturday from Eastern Mennonite Seminary in Harrisonburg.
And if hearing ``Pomp and Circumstance'' twice in one month wasn't enough, the Ecklunds are to attend another graduation ceremony today, when Liz's 70-year-old father, Eugene Walter, gets a degree in finance from Longwood College in Farmville.
For Liz Ecklund, returning to college took courage and confidence, which she said she did not have two years ago when she began classes at Virginia Western.
``It's amazing that she, after all these years, went back and did so well,'' Rick Ecklund said. He graduated in 1971 from Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., as a political science major. After working several years as general manager of an industrial laundry business in New York, however, he felt a call to the ministry.
He has spent the past four years preaching at two Methodist churches in Floyd County and commuting 132 miles each week to Eastern Mennonite Seminary.
His wife took the big step when she decided after working as a teacher's aide at Prices Fork Elementary School in Montgomery County that she wanted to be a teacher. Family support, though, was the driving force behind her return to school.
Liz Ecklund said that when she graduated from high school, her father did not show much support for her desire to attend the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. She said he had expected her to become a housewife like her mother.
``He's certainly changed his opinion down the line,'' she said. ``He's 100 percent for education now. He's the one who really encouraged me, because his college education meant so much to him.''
Walter's decision to return to college set an example for Liz. She said she realized she wasn't too old to go back to school when her father entered college during retirement.
Walter, a native of Virginia who retired in 1986 to Madison Heights near Lynchburg, said he saw 50 countries while working as an engineer based in Long Island, N.Y., and did not want to travel during retirement. Six years ago, he decided to take computer classes at Central Virginia Community College in Lynchburg as a pastime.
Within four years, he earned an associate's degree. He entered Longwood as a junior and earned a bachelor of science in finance.
``It's made me enjoy retirement more than chasing a white ball around a golf course,'' he said.
However, Walter does not consider graduating from college to be an outstanding feat. ``It's just another step on the road of life,'' he said.
Walter said he's more excited about finding a graduate school where he can pursue a master's in business administration.
This fall, Liz will enter Randolph Macon Women's College in Lynchburg to continue her studies. Rick has been offered a job with a United Methodist church near Charlottesville.
by CNB