83-year-old man bags PhD from US university, set to earn fresh Bachelor’s degree in Law

An 83-year-old retired military officer, Johnnie W. Jones has achieved an exceptional feat after earning PhD degree in Sociology from the Louisiana State University (LSU), making him the oldest Black person to ever receive an LSU degree.

Johnnie Jones joined the United States Marine Corps at the age of 18. He had to drop out of school in sixth grade to support his family during World War II and later in 1973 after retiring from the military, he enrolled at a university for night classes to earn his Bachelor’s degree in Sociology.

Johnnie Jones earned his Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Hawaii. After completing his Bachelor’s degree, he proceeded to Louisiana State University (LSU) to earn his Master’s degree in Social Work and began to pursue his PhD in Human Ecology.

Johnnie Jones suffered several challenges while pursuing his lifetime dream of earning a PhD degree. At the old age of 83, he was set back by a serious medical condition that made him lose some years of study.

However, upon recovery, he set to earn his PhD degree in Human Ecology and is not stopping there as he now looks forward to earning a Bachelor’s degree in Law.

“Age is an artificial constraint. There’s nothing magical about 65, 75, 95, 105. Your behavior, your activities should be guided by your physical fitness and your mental fitness,” he told The Advocate. “We’ve been so socialized to believe that once you hit a certain age, I’ve done my thing, so I’m going to sit back and enjoy life. OK, if that’s your thing, that’s your thing. But to me, age doesn’t mean that much. It’s whether or not I have the ability to be doing the things I need to be doing.”