graduated with a master’s in History<\/a> at the age of 93. Although he won\u2019t be in attendance for the Faculty of Humanities Convocation ceremony Friday, he\u2019ll graduate with an undergraduate degree in Classics \u2014 this time at the age of 95.<\/p>\nLearning has been a lifelong pursuit for Guard, who earned a degree in electrical engineering from Royal Hollaway, University London in the early 1950s and worked in the nuclear power field for more than 30 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy career has always involved learning,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen they de-classified the secrets of atomic energy, I joined the staff of Britain\u2019s first nuclear power station and struggled with nuclear physics.\u201d<\/p>\n
Originally from the UK, Guard and his late wife Barbara immigrated to Montreal in the mid-1960s before moving to Toronto with their four children in 1980 following the collapse of the nuclear industry. They retired to Niagara three years later, establishing Gwennol Farms, a 15-acre organic vegetable and sheep farm which the couple ran for 15 years.<\/p>\n
After losing his wife to cancer, Guard looked for a new project to help him through the difficult time. Learning he could take courses at Brock for free because of his age, he decided to switch from highly technical engineering subjects to studying the humanities.<\/p>\n
His first Brock degree was in English Literature in 2015, followed by the master\u2019s in History in 2017, and now the Classics degree he\u2019s set to receive.<\/p>\n
One of his Classics courses was in senior Latin with Professor Carol Merriam, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Robin took my class, the other students were at first bemused by this much older man in their midst, but soon accepted him as a classmate on the same mission and with the same concerns,\u201d she said. \u201cThey were all together in dealing with difficult language and material, and the rest of the class soon came to rely on Robin to ask the technical questions that would lead to greater clarity for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Guard said he appreciates the way others accepted him as a student.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am so grateful for the fact that Brock\u2019s professors, sometimes half my age, treated me like any student, with no concessions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
When Guard started taking courses, he wasn\u2019t sure how he would fit in as a mature student, but he formed close friendships with two other mature students, Allan Edgington (BA \u201915, MA \u201917) and Pat O\u2019Hara (BA \u201907, BA \u201916). The trio, who call themselves the \u2018Three Old Farts,\u2019 brought valuable perspectives from their lived experiences to classroom discussions and provided support and mentorship to younger students.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt that any talents I have are due to my dear parents, both born in the 19th century and whom I never really thanked enough,\u201d said Guard, who was born between the two World Wars and grew up during the Great Depression.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were dirt poor and living off the land,\u201d he said. \u201cMy mother was the ambitious one. She sent me to a remarkable one-man school where I learned things they don\u2019t teach any more.<\/p>\n
This will be Guard\u2019s last degree from Brock, as he has decided that rather than continue his studies, it is time to record some of his own history. Having lived through nearly a century of history, Guard is drawing on what he has learned about writing and studying history to write his autobiography.<\/p>\n
\u201cThroughout his academic career at Brock, Robin\u2019s endless curiosity has driven him to examine details and connections,\u201d Merriam said. \u201cWhen they\u2019re older, students who have been with him in classes will remember his example and continue to pursue learning in their own later years \u2014 as will many of the professors who have taught him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When Robin Guard earns his third Brock University degree Friday, he\u2019ll be breaking the record for the oldest-ever graduate \u2014 again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":45239,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[119,7484,7,3319,4052,188,55,37,1,4],"tags":[1583,506,30,5416,1759],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58726"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58726"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58731,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58726\/revisions\/58731"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}