LIMA — When it comes to 90-year-old World War II veteran Duane Reynolds Sr.’s education at Delphos Jefferson High School, the phrase, “Better late than never” may apply.
After a Veterans Day Lima News story related Reynolds’ experiences as a trained medic in the Navy and Marines in the Pacific, complete with recounts of the Battles of Peleliu and Okinawa, the story ended with the highly-decorated veteran saying how he was welcomed back at his high school.
“When I got home, I made an appointment to see the superintendent of schools over in Delphos to see about the school conferring a diploma, a common practice for those of us who left high school to serve,” he said in the article. “He told me, I had to take three months of history. I won’t tell you what I called him. Hell, I just lived almost three months of pretty important history. I thought there was just something very wrong about that.”
That story was soon brought to the attention of current Delphos superintendent Kevin Wolfe, who, as both a teacher and lover of history, immediately felt the need to respond.
“There’s a law out there where you can honor military service credit for people who didn’t” complete high school, he said. “It surprises me that it’s taken this long to do that.”
Consequently, Wolfe, along with the Delphos City Board of Education, unanimously approved a measure Monday to give Reynolds an honorary diploma, making him an official graduate of Delphos Jefferson. Wolfe made the trip to Lost Creek Care Center on Wednesday to present him with the diploma.
“It was an absolute no-brainer for us to do it,” he said. “We wanted to make sure to do this, and we hope it inspires other people to come forward, either in Delphos or other schools, to get their honorary diplomas, as well.”
After receiving the diploma with his sons and other family by his side, Reynolds showed appreciation for the gesture, noting however, that, in the end, “I never really needed it.”
“But I’m glad I got it,” he said.
Wolfe said after the ceremony that, considering how much Reynolds offered for this country in World War II, this was the least the district could do.
“This is peanuts compared to what he’s done,” he said. “We’re proud to have him as a graduate of Delphos Jefferson.”
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