SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) - A woman who was denied entrance to a southwest Missouri college more than 60 years ago watched recently as her 55-year-old son graduated from the same school.
Mary Jean Walls was an 18-year-old graduate of the all-black Lincoln High School in Springfield 62 years ago and applied to then-Southwest Missouri State University. The Springfield News Leader (http://sgfnow.co/Ko2sF1) reports that she was the first black student to apply to the school, but she was denied admission.
On Friday, Walls, now 80, watched her son Terry Walls receive his bachelor's degree from Missouri State University, which was renamed in 2005.
Thanks to Terry Walls' research about his mother's application, the university in 2010 established the Mary Jean Walls Multicultural Scholarship in her honor.
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Information from: Springfield News-Leader, http://www.news-leader.com