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Some related articles : Advancing health and well-being into old age: the case for active ageing |
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The Graduate, Age 87, Looks Ahead
NORTHAMPTON, Mass., May 19 — Seventy years ago, Anne Martindell arrived on campus for her freshman year at Smith College. She loved it from the start, but her parents pulled her out at the end of the year, worried that too much education would make her unmarriageable. "I made the mistake of telling my father I was interested in law school," Ms. Martindell said. "He was a federal judge, and I thought it would please him. But he was horrified. They just wanted me to stay home, go to parties and meet suitable young men. I got married at 19, my father jumping for joy. I was so homesick for Smith." Now, at age 87, Ms. Martindell has finally completed her Smith education: today, with all her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren in attendance, she became the oldest person ever to graduate from the venerable women's college — and the first to get a B.A. in American studies and an honorary doctor of laws degree on the same day. It has been a long detour, a lively journey through two unhappy marriages, a political career, an ambassadorship and a long relationship with a New Zealand man she refers to as "the love of my life." Although Ms. Martindell said she started out "almost as conservative as my mother," her career has been shaped by her steady support of an expanded role for women, and by her early opposition to the Vietnam War. While Ms. Martindell's route has been particularly striking, hundreds of elderly men and women are getting college degrees this month — including Geneva Long at Skidmore College, who is 96. Many colleges have set up programs for older students. The American Council on Education says there are thousands of undergraduates over 65, although fewer than 500 get degrees each year. For Ms. Martindell, as for many, a college degree was a lifelong aspiration. At different times she enrolled for part of a semester at Barnard College and a whole semester at a college in Montreal. But life always interfered with her academic plans, until shortly after the death of her New Zealand partner in 1998, when a friend suggested that she look into Smith's Ada Comstock Scholar program for older students. "I've always loved Smith, and I loved every minute of being back," she said. "It's been hard work. I would get up at 6:30 to work, because I'm no good later in the day. I love research, I love writing papers. I don't love exams, because as you get older, your mind still works but it does not work as fast, and writing exams is more difficult. But I made dean's list in my freshman year, and I made it again now." Getting a college degree, she said, has helped her learn to think more analytically. "My son Roger, a lawyer who's now a Princeton councilman, told me when I was a state senator that he could see my lack of college education in how difficult I found it to analyze legislation in deciding how to vote," she said. "I think I've gotten better at that." Her professors say they have been thrilled by her devotion to education. "At the most profound level, Anne is a testament to the importance of education," said Prof. Daniel Horowitz, her Smith adviser. Ms. Martindell is charmingly full of the academic enthusiasm normally associated with much younger students. In conversation, she often lights up, describing a particularly interesting textbook or a classroom revelation that shed light on her life experience. "I just finished a course on 20th-century diplomacy, which was mostly about war," she said. "One of the books, which fascinated me, talked about how five presidents got involved in that Vietnam mess because they transferred cold war philosophy to a place where it didn't work." This resonated with Ms. Martindell, who became politically active in the 1960's in opposition to the Vietnam War. Ms. Martindell's patrician New Jersey family connections opened many doors. Her second husband, Jackson Martindell, was publisher of Who's Who. Her brother, Blair Clark, was the campaign manager for Eugene J. McCarthy's failed 1968 Democratic presidential bid. After the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Ms. Martindell was asked to be vice chairwoman of the New Jersey Democratic Party, to help bring liberals back. "I was appalled at how women were treated in politics — good for making coffee and licking stamps, period," she said. She then ran for office herself, serving four years as a state senator before President Jimmy Carter appointed her director of the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance in 1977, and, two years later, ambassador to New Zealand and Western Samoa. Ms. Martindell's return to Smith has given her both new intellectual skills and a sharp awareness of how much life has changed for young people. "We used to have to be in at 10 at night, and if we wanted to go to Harvard for the weekend, we had to have written permission from our parents," she said. "We were too protected. But looking around now, I sometimes wish society offered a little more protection for young people." Ms. Martindell, who shared an apartment here with another older student, sounds slightly regretful that she did not experience dorm life this time around. "I needed to get my sleep, so I could get up early and work, and I know that there's loud music, late, in the dorms," she said. "But I think that if I had lived there, I would have gotten closer to the younger students." As it happened, the young student she became closest to was Ruthemma Rush, a senior from Michigan, whom she hired to type her papers — and who, it turned out, was the daughter of a friend of Ms. Martindell's daughter. "My mom told me she was going to be here, and that I should get in touch, but I never did," Ms. Rush said. "So the way we met was my answering her ad for a person to type papers. Then we got to be friends. She's really cool, and great to hang out with." Ms. Martindell is mindful that the same career-versus-children concerns that led her to leave Smith the first time still echo in this generation. "I think women can have it all," she said. "We live so long, you can have the family and then have the career. I didn't do anything real until I was 50." Ultimately, she said, it was through her children that she moved into the work force. "My son was dyslexic, and a woman at his school told me about a new program to teach reading to dyslexic children, and said she wanted me to teach it," she said. "I thought that was ridiculous, because I didn't know anything about teaching. But she said she'd seen it work with people who had no experience, no training. So I taught, for four years, learning on the job, and it gave me confidence that I could do anything." A degree will not end Ms. Martindell's active life: after graduation, she heads to Washington for the annual meeting of the United States-New Zealand Council, a nonprofit organization that she founded. Beyond that, she plans further work on her memoirs (working title: "Never Too Late"). "A friend told me that after I graduated, I should take a year off to find myself," she reported, delightedly. "But as long as my health holds out, I need a project." FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Global Action on Aging distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
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