TEXAS CITY, Texas – Madeline Adams has had a lifetime of accomplishments.
She has three children, 12 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren, and is about to get her college degree.
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"Life happened," Adams said. "I got married and right away started having children."
Now, at the age of 75, She is getting her college degree. Her road to graduation started in the 1960s at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.
She took interior design classes in the 1980s at Drake University in Des Moines, but she said life intervened and she did not finish.
Adams joined classes and stayed active with the Student Government Association, the COM Fitness Club and the Organization of Black Culture.
Adams learned while she was in college about a part-time job with Carnival Cruises and applied.
Adams said she decided to wear her Phi Theta Kappa pin to her job interview. Phi Theta Kappa is an international community college honor society.
"The interviewer asked me how my grades were, and I showed her my pin. She turned around and got the employee packet and said, 'You're hired. I'm a PTK graduate too,'" Adams said.
She now checks in passengers as they board cruise ships.
Adams was previously a tour guide for Haley Travel in Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, the Ivory Coast and Mali.
She will be graduate May 13 with an associate of arts degree in general studies from College of the Mainland.