Billy Macon is a faithful husband, father, and grandfather. He ran his own business, wrote a book, and enjoys his hobbies. But for six decades there was always something which gnawed at the 80-year-old.
Though Macon graduated from West Anchorage High School in 1961, his diploma was given to him with a red stamp displaying a rude reminder that “this student met minimum state requirements,” and turning the diploma from a point of pride, into a point of pain.
In an interview with Alaska News, Macon’s wife said he never displayed the certificate in the house, but had it stowed it away in a plastic bag. It belittled his commitment to family and education. For as a senior, he was already married with a child and had a second on the way. He was working at the nearby Elmendorf Air Force base to support them, which required a one-hour walk, while finding time to study when he was able.
“I tried to do homework when I’d get home from school, but by the time I’d get to it a little bit, it was time to get on my walking track out to Elmendorf,” Macon said. “So I’d walk out to Elmendorf, work half the night and then walk all the way back.”
Macon’s granddaughter Tafena Timpson, after seeing what the red stamp had done and was continuing to do to her grandfather’s sense of pride, tried to contact the school district, but had no success.
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Later, looking to do something nice for his 80th birthday, Timpson wrote a moving social media post hoping to capture the incredible value of a man which the state’s examiners had failed to notice.
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Sven Gustafson saw the post and decided to right the wrong. As principal of the same school that Macon had graduated from in 1961, he organized a special re-graduation ceremony, complete with a recital from the school choir and new diploma sans stamp.
“It’s unbelievable, it is unbelievable,” he said. His wife confirmed that he plans to hang this one on the wall.
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My 80 year old birth certificate says something on it I don’t like either.