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Great-Grandmother Graduates College After Going Back to Heal Her Broken Heart

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Jean Kops, 87, went back to college to heal her broken heart after her husband of more than 50 years died. And this Saturday, she’s going to graduate.

Kops first began classes at the University of Nebraska 70 years ago, the Omaha World Herald reports, but in 1948 she got married to Lyle Kops and quit school to live on his ranch. Jean and her husband had five daughters and were happily married until he died in 2011.

Kops didn’t know what to do without her husband, so her daughters urged her to go back to school, and she decided to go back to the University of Nebraska.

After two years of taking classes with students younger than her grandchildren (including Human Sexuality, where she told the class what it was like to be a virgin when she got married), Kops is finally going to get her college degree.

What’s next? “I’ll find something!” Kops said.

[Omaha World Herald]

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Write to Tessa Berenson at tessa.Rogers@time.com