SALISBURY, Md. - With the opening bars of "Pomp and Circumstance" entered hundreds of newly minted graduates of Salisbury University Thursday afternoon.
Each of the graduates had their own story about how they came to S.U.
But for one graduate, his story and journey to S.U. began in Japan while serving in the U.S. Air Force - at the beginning of the Vietnam Era.
"As a lark, I took a college level course in sociology, but did not at the time intend to pursue that," said Lloyd William "Bill" Gibbons, who at 77-years old earned a bachelor of arts magna cum laude in psychology.
Gibbons never intended to finish a degree, and in the intervening half century, he has dabbled in a variety of fields, including art history and physics, and even real estate.
But the arrival of his daughter pushed him to finish a degree.
"The primary reason that I swore to myself is to set an example for my daughter," Gibbons said.
His daughter, Sami, watched him work over the past few years, earning the degree with high honors, and has taken on his work ethic.
"There's no time for wasting time for them," Sami said. "And, the smartest way to go is just to make your own plans and go with it," she continued as she mused on how best to help a parent trying to finish school.
Bill Gibbons is not the first person to go to college without knowing exactly what they wanted to do, and he won't be the last. For those folks, he had these words:
"Whatever direction you're facing, keep going forward," Gibbons said.