102-Year-Old Rochester Man Honored With High School Diploma

ROCHESTER, Minn. (AP) _ A 102-year-old Rochester man can finally call himself a high school graduate.

Leon Swendsen received an honorary diploma Tuesday from Rochester Public Schools, in a ceremony that saw him don a cap and gown and march to the front of the room while a small student orchestra played the traditional graduation song ``Pomp and Circumstance.''

Reports say Swendsen left high school when he was 16 to help out on the family farm near Culver, about 30 minutes northwest of Duluth. He became a truck driver when he turned 18 and eventually worked as a Greyhound bus driver for 37 years.

The World War II veteran moved to Rochester about 20 years ago to be near family.
Swendsen says the honor ``affects me more than anything.''