Lifelong Learner Gets Fifth Degree at Age 82
After getting degrees in electrical engineering, manpower management and real estate over his lifetime, Terence Sutherland went for his lifelong love: a master’s in studio art at age 82. Click here to view article.
Terence “Terry” Sutherland first became interested in painting when he was just a boy. But it’s taken a whole lifetime to return to his passion. At 82, he just got his master’s degree in studio art.
Before he reached his last achievement, Sutherland earned several degrees in very disparate fields. First, as a naval officer in 1948, he got what is the equivalent of a marine engineering degree followed by a bachelor’s in electrical engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy. After 25 years in the Navy and a stint in the Merchant Marines, he switched fields and got a master’s in manpower management. After he retired, still eager to learn new things and keep working, he earned a degree in real estate through the Veterans Administration. To round out his achievements, he also got his pilot’s license.
But there was still one goal Sutherland hadn’t met. As a boy, his grandfather taught him how to paint. “My grandfather was a Western and cowboy artist in Colorado. Grandpa would take me out in his shop and show me how to paint; that’s what he did. From then on, I was interested in painting and I’ve been painting ever since off and on.”
But it wasn’t until his wife urged him to attend the University of West Florida that he turned his lifelong hobby into something more serious. “My wife asked me to go up here to UWF. And I thought she sort of wanted to get me out of the house mostly. And so, I went up there.”
A resident at Azalea Trace Retirement-life Community in Pensacola, Fla., Sutherland is a firm believer in learning. “Excursions into other challenges are what keep your mind young. And as far as your body, well, it tends to give out as time goes by, but that is the least of your worries.”
At the university, the younger students sought him out. “I play the rent-a-grandpa type. Kids will come up to me and tell me stories they wouldn’t tell other people,” Sutherland says. One bit of grandfatherly advice: “There’s no substitute for those two four-letter words: hard work.”
He credits his energy to giving up smoking and drinking. “It breaks my heart, but [drinking’s] really not good for your health.” His only exercise is physical therapy for a specific health problem. “But my day starts at 6 a.m. and I do a lot, so I feel like I’m always moving. I run the art room here at the retirement community.”
For his 75 credit hours of school, he’s got a lot to show. “If you ask me what I’m going to do with these some 100 paintings I’ve produced over the last three years, I’ll be doggone if I know.”
Sources: “Angels in Our Midst,” WEAR ABC Channel 3 and “Meet an 82-Year-Old Grandfather Who Just Picked Up his 5th College Degree” Huffington Post.
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