x-pert
08-11-2007, 02:03 PM
Phyliis is a 94-year-old master
By Nadine Williams
August 02, 2007 02:00am
A 94-YEAR-OLD great-great grandmother with an "amazing brain" has become the oldest person ever to earn a Masters degree.
What makes Phyliss Turner's story even more extraordinary is that she left Annandale Primary School at 12 to help her mother look after her siblings because their father had left the family.
From those humble Sydney beginnings, which included spending her early married life with husband Tom in Homebush, Mrs Turner yesterday celebrated earning a Masters in medical science at Adelaide University.
"She is a strong old matriarch," boasted granddaughter Sue Rudall, whose two children are among Phyllis's 23 great-grandchildren and nine great-great grandchildren.
Mrs Turner said in spite of her own achievement, she was proudest of her seven children and two step-children.
"They were all very good children," she said.
After almost 60 years, Mrs Turner returned to study, enrolling at Adelaide University at 70 and at 72, applied for and won a 12-month scholarship to study at the University of California.
"I entered university when I was 70 and I came top in the essay section when I did my entry exam," she said.
After her year in California, she returned to the Australian National University to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in anthropology in 1986.
"We are very proud of her," Mrs Turner's daughter Anne O'Herran said. "She is the oldest higher degree research graduate in the world and we're putting her in the Guinness Book of Records."
Mrs Turner, who has lived in Adelaide since 1948, was 90 years old when she moved to the University of Adelaide's medical school to do her Masters following achieving honours in anthropology in 2002.
Her thesis was on Australian settlement before European colonisation, which she studied under Professor Maciej Henneberg, co-supervised by Professor Colin Groves at ANU, who attended her graduation this week.
"I feel very, very happy after five years of study, but sorry that I am just a little bit immobilised," Mrs Turner, who uses a walking stick, said.
"I don't feel old and I would like to go on to further study, but I am a bit of a liability to other people now."
Professor Henneberg described "Phil" as having "a lively and fresh intellect", while her son Tom said his mother "has an amazing brain".
http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,5592580,00.jpg
Source: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,4057,22172902-421,00.html
By Nadine Williams
August 02, 2007 02:00am
A 94-YEAR-OLD great-great grandmother with an "amazing brain" has become the oldest person ever to earn a Masters degree.
What makes Phyliss Turner's story even more extraordinary is that she left Annandale Primary School at 12 to help her mother look after her siblings because their father had left the family.
From those humble Sydney beginnings, which included spending her early married life with husband Tom in Homebush, Mrs Turner yesterday celebrated earning a Masters in medical science at Adelaide University.
"She is a strong old matriarch," boasted granddaughter Sue Rudall, whose two children are among Phyllis's 23 great-grandchildren and nine great-great grandchildren.
Mrs Turner said in spite of her own achievement, she was proudest of her seven children and two step-children.
"They were all very good children," she said.
After almost 60 years, Mrs Turner returned to study, enrolling at Adelaide University at 70 and at 72, applied for and won a 12-month scholarship to study at the University of California.
"I entered university when I was 70 and I came top in the essay section when I did my entry exam," she said.
After her year in California, she returned to the Australian National University to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in anthropology in 1986.
"We are very proud of her," Mrs Turner's daughter Anne O'Herran said. "She is the oldest higher degree research graduate in the world and we're putting her in the Guinness Book of Records."
Mrs Turner, who has lived in Adelaide since 1948, was 90 years old when she moved to the University of Adelaide's medical school to do her Masters following achieving honours in anthropology in 2002.
Her thesis was on Australian settlement before European colonisation, which she studied under Professor Maciej Henneberg, co-supervised by Professor Colin Groves at ANU, who attended her graduation this week.
"I feel very, very happy after five years of study, but sorry that I am just a little bit immobilised," Mrs Turner, who uses a walking stick, said.
"I don't feel old and I would like to go on to further study, but I am a bit of a liability to other people now."
Professor Henneberg described "Phil" as having "a lively and fresh intellect", while her son Tom said his mother "has an amazing brain".
http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,5592580,00.jpg
Source: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,4057,22172902-421,00.html