Ashcamp veteran earns diploma at 81

STAFF WRITER

Ashcamp resident James McKinney has experienced many things in his 81 years of living, but getting his high school diploma was one of his toughest challenges.

“The hardest road I ever traveled in my life was trying to get that diploma,” he said. “I walked a mile, and, boy, it was rough.”

He remembers how difficult life was for him and his family when he went to school. He said he couldn't finish school because he had to support his family.

“It was hard to make a living back then,” he said. “I had a rough time going to school. When I got home, my dad would take me out to saw mining timbers with a cross saw. Sometimes we'd be out there until midnight, then I'd come home and go to sleep and go to school the next day.”

McKinney dropped out of high school to join the Navy when he was 18 and he didn't sign back up for school when he returned home after the conclusion of WWII. He got married and raised a family with his wife, who died in 1970. He raised five children on his own for five years until he got married to Mabel McKinney, now a Mountain View Health Care Center Alzheimer's patient. McKinney, who still drives, visits the nursing home twice every day to feed his wife.

Seventeen family members - sons, daughters and grandchildren - attended a Pike County Board of Education meeting Tuesday to watch McKinney receive his diploma. He said he was going to frame the document so all of his family can see it.

McKinney, who worked in the school district's adult literacy program for about two years, didn't need to get a diploma for a job. He just wanted to see if he could do it. Wednesday, McKinney showed the diploma to at least one of his friends and told her, “I got promoted.”

“I am so proud of him,” said Shawna Crum, an instructor for the Pike County Adult Education and Family Literacy program. “He was so dedicated. He was always ready when he came through the door and he worked so hard. It sets such a good example for families, shows them that education is important even when 70 or 80.”

After studying for about two years, McKinney never completed the G.E.D. program. He received a high school diploma after Crum gave him information about the Veteran Diploma program, which helps veterans who dropped out of school to serve the country during war.

Elkhorn City Elementary guidance counselor Roxanne Blankenship, McKinney's daughter, said he is in excellent health. He quilts, does woodworking, makes furniture and helps with other Mountain View Health Care residents, she said.

McKinney is the second Pike County veteran that recently received a high school diploma. A diploma was awarded to Elkhorn Creek resident Gordan Potter last month.

Officials with the Pike County Adult Education and Family Literacy program work with adults to help them get a G.E.D., sign up for college or learn computer skills. Crum said there are about 2,000 Pike County participants this year. For more information, call Judith Branham at (606) 433-9245.