Elleta Nolte has given birth to nine children and written a book about her former home, Ransom Canyon. Now the 89-year-old is working on a new goal: graduating from Texas Tech, 17 years after originally enrolling. What's more, she's graduating at the same time as her 25-year-old granddaughter, Rebecca Nolte.
Elleta Nolte, a senior general studies major from Lubbock, said by attending Tech, she merely followed what has been a family tradition.
"Six of our nine children graduated from Tech," she said. "After our sixth one graduated, I enrolled as a freshman in 1991 at the age of 72. I took 43 hours and then dropped out in 1993 to finish a book I was writing. I re-enrolled in 1998 at age 80."
Elleta Nolte said she enrolled originally because of a new opportunity Tech offered at the time.
"I wanted to go to college," she said, "and Tech came out with what they called Senior Academy, where you could enroll without taking any tests."
Rebecca Nolte, a senior creative writing major from Pampa, said she is proud of her grandmother's achievements.
"I'm so excited for her," she said. "I'm more excited that she's graduating than I am excited that I'm graduating. We've worked it so that we're getting to sit together at graduation. I just feel really lucky because not everybody gets to do this."
Because she is in outreach studies and takes all her courses online, Elleta Nolte said she never had classes with Rebecca Nolte, who takes live courses. Despite the differences in their educations, the two always have helped one another.
"I feel honored to graduate with her," Elleta Nolte said. "She and I have encouraged each other to finish. We've not been sure we could finish together."
Rebecca Nolte said graduation day will be more meaningful than she can put into words.
"I feel like it will be akin to my wedding day," she said. "I tell everyone now that my grandmother's graduating. I'm just so proud. I feel like a parent bragging on a kid."
Elleta Nolte said age is no reason to avoid going to college.
"Who originated the idea that mainly the young should attend college?" she asked. "Youth has no real advantage to learning, for we oldsters have experience and insight they lack. We can relate a new concept to a fact we already know. As our age goes up, so can our confidence and our capacity for concentration. And many of us have tolerance, objectivity and are more open-minded than the very young."
Despite being decades older than most of her classmates, Elleta Nolte said she never felt out of place.
"I was accepted in college as just another student; I never felt any difference," she said. "I began a conversation with the others as they did me. Always, I was in awe that I was a college student. I never took it for granted."
Rebecca Nolte said she probably feels more out of place in college than her grandmother does.
"I feel old graduating at 25 (years old)," she said. "At my age, most people are in grad school or working. Then I look at my grandmother. She's 89, and she's still doing it. That's really impressive to me."
The road to graduation has not been an easy one, Elleta Nolte said, but she has always known her family supported her decision.
"There have been a lot of difficult moments," she said. "My husband Quenton died last March, and that was really difficult for me because we'd been married 63 years. But my family, including my husband, has been highly supportive of my efforts."
After her husband's death, Elleta Nolte considered dropping out of school, Rebecca Nolte said.
"I really have appreciated her going to school, especially after my grandfather's death," Rebecca Nolte said. "He definitely would've wanted her to finish. He would've said, 'You came this far, damn it. Don't stop now.' He wouldn't want her to quit for him."
Despite her struggles, Elleta Nolte said going to college has been a blessing in her life.
"I feel rich with all the information I've stored in my brain, along with the thoughts and emotions I've gained," she said. "No, college studies are not easy; they're downright challenging, but that's good, too, to have to struggle along new and interesting roads; it increases our initiative and hones our skills."
Elleta Nolte said the future will find her doing much of what she did during her college years.
"As for what I will do when I finish these last two courses and graduate," she said, "I could be facetious and say that I'll catch up with the ironing or file all my e-mails or such. But in reality, I'll continue writing ... and learning."
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