Nola Ochs, American centenarian, Died at 105

  Centenarian

Nola Ochs (nee Hill) was born on November 22, 1911, and died on December 9, 2016.

She was an American who was cited as the world’s oldest college graduate, in 2007, aged 95.

She was a native of Jetmore, Kansas, Ochs was born in 1911 and took her first college class from FHSU in 1930, when the university was called the Kansas State College.

Herself and her husband Vernon Ochs raised four sons (who have given her 13 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren) on the family farm.

Ochs took college courses again from Dodge City Community College in Dodge City, Kansas after her husband of 39 years died in 1972.

when she learned that she was only 30 hours shy of a bachelor’s degree, Nola moved 100 miles from the family farm to an FHSU university apartment in Hays to finish her degree.

In her first year at Fort Hays, Ochs told news reporters that after she graduated, Nola wanted to be a storyteller on a cruise ship.

One of her children died in 1995.

Then another son, Marion J. Ochs, died on March 15, 2016, at the age of 72.

She became a Guinness World Record holder as the world’s oldest college graduate when she received her diploma at Fort Hays State University (FHSU) in Hays, Kansas, on May 14, 2007.

Nola earned a general studies degree with an emphasis in history, graduating alongside her granddaughter, Alexandra Ochs, who was 21 years old at the time.

Her other accomplishments, Ochs was named the 2007 Kansas Woman Leader of the Year and was given her diploma by Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius.

Nola Ochs passed away at 105 years old.