Housing and Development Newsletter
“We are thrilled that Leonie will be joining our team at CommUnify,” said Patricia Keelean, CEO. “Her depth of experience working in the nonprofit, corporate and public sectors make her uniquely qualified for this leadership position, and her creativity and enthusiasm are a perfect fit for our organization as we continue to serve our community.”
As an international speaker, advocate, and self-published author of The Thread Collection, Mattison helps female trauma survivors achieve intentional transformation. She has donated more than 100 copies of her books to Santa Barbara County jail, healing programs nationwide, and survivors living in low-income communities.
9 Jan 2021
A great grandmother got the surprise of a lifetime during a Zoom call in December with loved ones to celebrate her 90th birthday.
When Marion Thomas logged into the call, she was surprised with a long-awaited degree from Georgian Court University, the school said in a news release:
In 1998, Mrs. Thomas and her husband, John, were living in Toms River, New Jersey, where they had retired after living in Bergen County. And after a lifetime of encouraging her 6 children and 18 grandchildren to pursue a college degree, Mrs. Thomas began her freshman year at Georgian Court College (now University) at the age of 67. Her grandchildren, many of whom were in school at the same time, even offered her college advice.
A 90-year-old great-grandmother is now the oldest graduate of a New Jersey university Jerry Carino, Asbury Park Press
Watch: Georgian Court president surprises 90-year-old Brick resident
Replay Video
ASBURY PARK, N.J. – Marion Thomas logged into a Zoom call Sunday to celebrate her 90th birthday with family members. Amid the familiar faces on the screen were three strangers, including a man wearing a cap and gown.
“Today, I have the distinct honor of conferring your bachelor’s degree,” he said.
The man was Georgian Court University president Joseph R. Marbach, the degree is in Interdisciplinary Studies, and the occasion came as a surprise to Thomas, a Brick, New Jersey resident who first enrolled at age 68 and attended for 10 years until her husband became ill in 2008.