94-year-old graduate crosses Liberty University graduation stage on first visit to campus

For Liberty University graduate Dr. Virginia J. Morelock, of Orange County, Calif., walking across the graduation stage on Friday meant the culmination of a dream over 60 years in the making.

Morelock, 94, earned her Ed.D.: Curriculum & Instruction: Elementary Education in September through Liberty University Online Programs, but visited campus for the first time this week to participate in Liberty’s 52nd Commencement.

She said coming to Lynchburg and visiting the campus of her alma mater made her accomplishment feel even more like a reality.

“It’s been 63 years since I started,” she said. “It’s very, very exciting.”

Accompanied by two of her daughters and a close friend, she spent Thursday touring campus, taking pictures, and getting ready for the big day.

Liberty News Service published Morelock’s story when she completed her degree last fall; a portion of that story is below. (Fall graduates are invited to walk in the annual Commencement in the spring.)

Growing up as the daughter of a school principal and superintendent and a home economics teacher, Morelock was exposed to the world of education from an early age. Wanting to follow in her parents’ footsteps, she earned her bachelor’s degree in science and math from the University of Wisconsin and went on to teach in Wisconsin and Ohio, earning her master’s degree from the University of Cincinnati.

After her husband’s death, Morelock moved to Los Angeles to work as an elementary teacher, when she married again in 1963.

Over the next 30 years, Morelock, the mother of four, taught at the elementary, junior high, and senior high levels for over 30 years in the Los Angeles area, serving her last 15 years as a ninth grade science teacher. She had begun doctoral classes at UCLA but halted her studies after one semester. Following her retirement at the age of 62, she contented herself to a quiet life of quilting, but when her husband passed away in 2019, she decided to finish the degree that she had started so many years before.

After researching which school would best meet her educational needs, she chose Liberty University Online Programs because of its discounts and support of military veterans and their families (her husband served in the U.S. Air Force).

“I have spent my entire life doing things for others, and I do not regret the way I have spent my life, but now it is time to do something for me,” she told her family when she began classes. “I do not have a lengthy bucket list; I just have one thing. I have always wanted to finish my doctorate. I will need the support of all of you, but I want to do this. I want to complete my doctorate before I die.”

As an older student, Morelock knew she would face some challenges, including adjusting to new technology. She even admits to misplacing some assignments and having to redo them. But she credits her grandson, who along with his family currently lives with her, and Liberty’s “invaluable” IT HelpDesk with helping her navigate the software and ensure that she turned in every assignment on time. Despite a rough start in her first class, she said she was able to right the ship and finish with a B. But that would be her only B — she received A’s in every one of her remaining classes.

Morelock also faced the challenge of completing her studies legally blind. She did this with the help of a typist and Liberty adjunct instructor Dr. Mandy Vipperman, who assisted her in refining her capstone project, in which she focused on parental involvement (or lack thereof) at her neighborhood elementary school where her children attended.

“I am tenacious,” she said after completing her degree last fall. “I start something, and I finish it. My kids encouraged me. I am one of those people where if I start something, I finish it. It may take me a while, but I’ll get it done.”

Now as a Liberty graduate, she hopes to inspire more current and future students to reach their own personal goals just as she did for so many children through the years.

“Whatever your dream is, don’t ever give up,” she said. “Keep working towards it, and if you persist, you will make that dream come true. You have got to be persistent.”