A Broken Arrow 70-year-old man finally received his college degree after going to college on and off for 53 years.
The best time is story time.
Great grandchildren sitting together listening closely…
That’s just one of the short stories Stephan Cates wrote for his own little pixie’s.
But you won’t hear them call him “grandpa.”
“I said well if I’m going to be ‘cool dude’ you’re going to be ‘hot mama,’” Cates said.
He’s no ordinary 70-year-old.
On Monday night, Cates walked across the stage at Northeastern State University in Broken Arrow, earning an English degree.
"Before my mama died I told her I would finish it,” Cates said.
The great-grandfather started college in 1965.
A Texas man at heart, attending Texas Tech, but never finished.
“I met my betrothed and started our family and worked for over the next 40 years,” Cates said.
With a novel already finished, and more poems than he can count, Cates is ready for a new mission.
“I’ve had jobs and I’m not really interested in another job other than concentrating on my written words," Cates said.
Until then. every day, there’s story time with his grandkids.
And with the help of his new degree, it’s proof that anything is possible.
“When you have little ones like that growing up, you want to be the biggest part of their life and you want to impress them,” Cates said.
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