When Mike Kehoe's mother read last Sunday's newspaper story, that Kehoe was to be Lincoln University's graduation speaker this weekend, she asked him: "Why did they choose you?"
As he recounted the story during his 15 minute address Saturday morning - for 471 LU graduates, their families and friends at Dwight T. Reed Stadium - Kehoe said he joked that new President Kevin Rome didn't know Kehoe's backstory.
But, he said, as he began working on his speech, "I figured out pretty quickly, this is not my area of expertise - I never was at a college graduation, because I never went to college."
But others reminded Kehoe - a long-time Mid-Missouri car dealer who now is a state senator - that he also has a story to tell.
"Your potential is not limited by your background," he said. "Don't forget your roots."
"I was raised by a single mother, the youngest of six, in North St. Louis City," Kehoe said as he began that story. "My goal as a child was to own my own bicycle someday.
"My mother was, and still is, a very strong person of faith - and she continually reminded us how blessed we were, as she worked three jobs and as we worked to help support her."
He worked his way through high school, including washing cars at Dave Sinclair Ford in St. Louis County.
"Mr. Sinclair was a long-time friend of our family's, and he always told my mother if she needed help, to send one of the kids to him and he'd put them to work," Kehoe recalled. "He practiced what he preached and was an example of how to run a business, and to keep your moral and ethical compasses pointed in the right direction."
Sinclair's "most important rules of business," Kehoe said, included "be nice to everybody and work your butt off. It was a simple philosophy, and Dave followed it without fail.
"He not only preached that message, but he treated his customers and employees fairly and with genuine compassion."
Hard work led Sinclair to try Kehoe as a salesman, then as truck sales department manager.
He sent Kehoe to Linn in 1987, to shut down a struggling business that was building custom vans and "losing too much money."
But, when Kehoe asked if Sinclair would let him try to save that business and its 30 employees, Sinclair "gave me six months."
And Kehoe asked the employees to help turn things around.
In 1992, Sinclair helped Kehoe buy the Jefferson City Ford and Lincoln-Mercury dealerships, "and I sold the Linn business to the same employees who still own it today," Kehoe said. "They now stand as the third largest emergency vehicle manufacturer in the United States, and the largest for Ford Motor Co.
"They employ more than 100 people and are one of the most important businesses in Osage County."
The most important messages from his own story, he said, are that "working hard and valuing those you work with will give you the foundation to do great things. A little prayer now and then helps, too."
Lincoln's graduates already know that sitting back and waiting for success doesn't mean it will happen, he said.
"Each of you has encountered roadblocks and challenges in the relentless pursuit of higher education," Kehoe noted. "In the future, I challenge you to never sell yourself short of that bar you have set these past four years.
"Because you will soon find out the work does not end here. In fact, it is just beginning."
Kehoe was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters.
And his wasn't the only inspirational story told Saturday morning.
"While I am not able to speak for everyone, many of the students here have overcome challenges to be here today," Rome said at the beginning of the more than 2 1/2-hour ceremonies. "Kim Asel's challenges began long before her school years, when she was diagnosed with childhood cancer.
"As a result of the diagnosis, she has experienced several surgeries - leaving her limited in her ability to maneuver."
She had to manage work and school, even when "just the physical requirements of daily activities were enough to exhaust her," Rome said. "Another challenge she encountered at Lincoln University was maneuvering the (very hilly) campus terrain."
But she graduated Saturday with a master's of business administration degree, with an accounting emphasis.
Rome also told about Gregory Williams, "raised in a single-parent household by his mother," and with an aunt who is an LU alum.
But as he headed into his senior year, Rome said, "Within the last nine months or so, Gregory's mother was diagnosed with cancer - and, against all odds, she persevered and made it through to the new year. In doing so, her last wish was to see her son graduate and walk across this stage.
"However, three weeks ago, after her battle with cancer ended, she passed away."
Williams honored his mother's last wish, walking across the stage Saturday to receive his degree in history.
Curators President Winston Rutledge - an LU graduate and long-time educator - reminded the graduates: "You are joining a group whose membership extends over nearly 150 years, from a handful of Civil War veterans to those of you assembled here, today."
And their future opportunities are "boundless," he said.