My cousin Irene Marie Jose might have been some sort of "royalty" while she was at Chilocco.  I don't know how long she was there, or when.  I don't remember when she graduated, but think it was in 1968 or '69.  It's been a long time since I've thought about the years.  Her grandmother was my grandfather's sister, so my mom and hers were cousins.

 

I only attended in Spring 1969 (when I was to graduate) because of family issues, and then went back in Fall 1969 because I liked it.

Could have graduated that December, but stayed on and graduated in May 1970.  Then went on to university but only stayed two years...wanted to work.  Ended up getting married, having kids...but took classes all along.  Finally, they all added up to close to 80 credits and I only needed 120+.  So here I am.

 

My cousin passed away in her early 30's from alcoholism.  It was a sad time.  In fact, for that whole family, alcoholism was a bad thing - most of the family died from that.

 

Irene responds to her cousin:

 

Well, thanks for the congrats.  And to you, too, congratulations on completing your BA.  Quite an accomplishment.  It's harder when you are older because you have responsibilities, things that you have to do, and I am working full-time.  My inspiration came from reading an article, I think in AARP magazine?, but this woman graduated high school, married her childhood sweetheart, never went to college, had children, raised them, and sent them off to college.  When the last one graduated, she enrolled in college, completed her degree, then went on to apply for medical school.  She finished that, did internship, residency, all that...and, at the time, had her own family practice somewhere back East.  I thought that was amazing, and had been trying to figure out if I wanted to go back, and when I read that, I thought, I'm going to try!  And I did, and now it's history.

 

Thanks again,

 

Irene Edwards

Pawnee-Cheyenne