Helen Elizabeth Dendy woke up March 9 at her Jersey City apartment and got ready for what she thought was going to be a small birthday celebration in the building’s community room on the 16th floor.
What the 99-year-old Dendy did not know was she was about to receive an honorary diploma from Dickinson High School.
She had wanted a diploma all her life, but being the oldest in her family, she had stayed home with her mother to help care for her eight younger siblings.
“I didn’t know about it,” Dendy said last week. “I was shocked. My grandson called me from Union to congratulate me.” April Tucker, the service coordinator at Grandview Terrace – a senior housing complex on Kennedy Boulevard – met with Dendy, the oldest resident in the building, prior to the birthday party.
She learned that Dendy had always wanted to graduate from high school but could not. Dendy told her she still gets sentimental whenever she sees students in their caps and gowns during graduation ceremonies.
“It started with a birthday club,” Tucker said. “I wanted to do something special for Helen.”
Tucker called Dickinson High School Principal Robert Donato and asked him for a diploma for Dendy. Donato happily agreed, and the school provided Dendy with a cap and gown, a school pin, a sweatshirt, and of course, a diploma. “It sounded like a great idea,” Donato said last week. “I made sure we could give out an honorary diploma and we took it from there.”
Tucker added, “It gave me a good feeling to see her happy.”
Dendy was born in Hoboken and grew up in Jersey City. She moved to Grandview Terrace more than 30 years ago and enjoys crossword puzzles and shrimp cocktails.
Many of Dendy’s neighbors and friends gathered at the community room for the party. The next day, Mayor Bret Schundler came to visit the recent graduate at her home to congratulate her.
“I feel so special from all the attention,” Dendy said.
Dendy added, “Time has passed, but I still have my mind. I was 68 when I stopped working, and I’m always on the go.” Dendy had worked in sales at Macy’s before retiring.
Tucker plans birthday celebrations every month for the 306 residents at the building. She loves working with seniors, she said.
“We make sure they have social services needs,” Tucker said. “We do trips, movie nights and parties.”