Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe TEXAS CITY, Texas, May 13 (UPI) -- A Texas City, Texas, centenarian, older than the high school from which she said she wanted to graduate but never did, will finally receive her diploma. Thelma Dyess, 100, brags she is older than the city in which she lives, noting she was born April 14, 1911, and Texas City wasn't incorporated until September of that year. Advertisement Dyess went no further in school than the eighth grade and said she always regretted not going to high school, the Galveston County Daily News reported. "I wish I could have finished high school and gotten my diploma. I had to drop out because of the Great Depression and find work," Dyess said in an interview with the newspaper last month. Texas City Independent School District Superintendent Bob Brundrett read the interview, decided to do something about it and arranged for the school board to award Dyess an honorary high school diploma during the Class of 2011's graduation ceremony June 3, the Daily News said Thursday. It is unclear which high school the graduating class is from. School district spokeswoman Melissa Tortorici said Dyess will be given a cap and gown so she can enjoy the full graduation experience. Advertisement
