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Dr. Morris actually handed the diploma to me but allowed my father to
place the hood, the doctoral hood over me.
A doctorate, and I tell young people this today, a doctorate is what you do for
yourself. You don't do it for anyone else. It's too hard. It's too long, and you
can't do it for anyone else. You do it for yourself. So I decided because I was
teaching there in Commerce, 1st grade, decided to go into education administration.
Was concerned about that I might have to have my father, and so as a matter of
fact, I did have to have him and I studied harder for that class and harder
for those tests because one, I didn't want to embarrass him and two, I didn't
want people to ever perceive that he had been easier on me. In fact,
my superintendent, who just retired, we had some doctoral classes together and we had one
with dad.
He said, "It could be a long time to even realize that you were his daughter
because he treated you just like the rest of us." It made the difference that he always
said, "I'm proud of you. Do what you want to do."
and that's what an educator does and I was doubly blessed because he was
my father as well. But I saw him do that with people that he wasn't related to
and that's what people would tell you when they ask you about M. B. Nelson. They would say,
"He was a kind, caring person. He cared about me and my family and
as an individual, and he just wanted the best for me." So,
if his legacy can live on through me then I am more than blessed to carry that
on because he impacted me as as a human being certainly but as an educator
as well