College student, 68, awaits graduation

PRESQUE ISLE – Annette Knickerbocker is itching to graduate and use her associate degree in business administration to find a new job. She’s among about 200 students who will graduate from Northern Maine Community College on May 13, with one little difference: She’s 68.

But the spunky Limestone resident isn’t about to let that stop her.

“I’m hoping that at an interview, I can say, ‘Yes, I’m 68, but I’m willing to learn and make changes.’ I can show them that I went back to school and that I’m not set in my ways,” Knickerbocker said Wednesday, fresh from a morning class.

Standing at 5 feet, 2 inches – or, 5 feet, 4 inches with the high-heeled black boots she was wearing – and dressed smartly in a pale blue turtleneck, striped blazer and jeans, Knickerbocker looked every inch the college student preparing for the job market as she extended her arm for a handshake.

In her distinctly deep and raspy voice, she explained how she came to be an older woman snubbing retirement.

Knickerbocker grew up in North Adams, Mass., and eventually made her way up to northern Maine through the military. Her husband, David, was a master sergeant in the U.S. Air Force – he died in 2001 – and after stints in Plattsburgh, N.Y.; Lake Health, England; and Rantoul, Ill., they finally settled for good in Limestone. The mother of seven and proud grandmother has held several jobs in her half century in the work force – everything from a waitress at the former NCO club to a recreation department employee to a gas station clerk – but she always knew she wanted to further her career in business by going to college.

She gave it a try in the late 1980s, but when she wasn’t able to pull a 4.0 GPA, she dropped out and cried all summer. Later on, though, she realized that it wasn’t just the grade, it was what she learned that counted.

When her husband died, she waited a few years and then gave college another try. This time, it clicked. That may have been because she had the support of her daughter, Amy Coppola, who headed back to college the same year her mother did and helped drive her to classes. Knickerbocker freely admits that she doesn’t drive at night.

Ask her about how classes have gone this time and a huge smile spreads across her face.

“I have learned so much more this time, but I want to know it,” she said.

She has managed to maintain a 3.78 GPA and hold down a part-time job as an administrative assistant with the Aroostook Episcopal Cluster, a group of five Episcopal churches in central Aroostook County.

Knickerbocker said one of the greatest things she has learned in her college career is how to open herself up to new ideas.

“I’m putting my thinking in a new direction,” she said. “Take how I read the paper, for example. I found that because of my classes, I now read the business section. When they talk about stocks and show graphs, I can understand it. This has all really changed my thinking.”

It has also helped her make a big change in her life.

She’s leaving in June for the world “out there.”

“I’m going to get in a car and go,” she said. “I’m going to stop in a town, and if I like it, I’ll look for a job. If not, I’ll move on. I’m just going to go like a butterfly and see what happens.”