Genevieve Ford will be celebrating more than her 82nd birthday this month. She is also celebrating her “senior in college” status at Saint Mary College (soon to be renamed University of Saint Mary) in Johnson County where she is working on a bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies with a concentration in history.

“Primarily I’m going to school to keep my brain active,” she laughed. “I just enjoy every class so much and can’t believe how much I’m learning.”

Ford has wanted to graduate from college ever since she finished high school in Carthage, Mo. “I picked out a college in Kansas I wanted to attend,” she said, “but my father insisted on my staying in Carthage and paid upfront for a year in business school, so that’s what I did.”

At 18, she went to Washington, D.C., to work in the State Department.

Earnest S. Ford, a friend she had dated in Carthage, came to Washington to work at the War Department. Three and a half years later, they were married.

They moved to Kansas City and began their family. Ford worked in and out of rearing four children. For most of her adult career she worked for the federal government.

Though her life was full with a good job and a great family, she still had the unfulfilled dream of going to college. So, in the 1960s, when her children were a little older, she enrolled in Metropolitan Community College (Now Penn Valley College) and completed an associate’s degree in business. Halfway to the ultimate goal, she entered Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Mo., hoping to complete a bachelor’s degree. “I thought the tuition was a little steep for my budget back then,” she said. “I probably should have just stuck with it, but I didn’t.”

Finally in 2000, retired for the second or third time, Ford entered the Interdisciplinary Studies Program at Saint Mary College. She loves history and has chosen it as her field of concentration.

Asked if she had plans for graduate study, Ford smiled and said, “Well, when our daughter was finishing college, we suggested that she take a year off before jumping into a graduate program. I think I’ll follow that advice.”