70-year-old man attends first grade in St. Joseph

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. -- When Alferd Williams decided he wanted to go back to school to learn how to read three years ago, he didn't think his simple request would lead to national fame.

"Only thing I thought was going to happen was I was going to learn how to read. I never dreamed none of this would happen, but it just blew up," Williams said.

Williams, who is now 70, had more national publicity this past week, when he went on the Ellen DeGeneres talk show to tell his story. DeGeneres responded by pledging $10,000 and challenging her audience to help build Williams a home.

It all began about three years ago, when Williams asked Alesia Hamilton, a first-grade teacher at Edison Elementary School, to teach him how to read. Hamilton gave Williams two-hour daily lessons in the school library.

Eventually, she invited him into her classroom. At first he was hesitant, but the children have accepted him.

"Well, he's a different age from us," said Heather Johnson, 7. "But he still acts like a first-grader.

"And if you tickle him behind his ears," she said, a smile sneaking across her face, "he'll laugh and laugh."

In class, Williams' favorite part of the day is reading time. He now can read books, magazines, newspapers, as well as the signs at the grocery store.

"I'm finally beginning to understand what this world is about," Williams said, his eyes wide open.

Along the way, he has gained some fame.

In 2006, Tiffany Tant-Shafer was in the audience of an Oprah Winfrey show when Winfrey gave audience members $1,000 and a camera and challenged them to use it for a good deed.

Tant-Shafer then asked readers of the St. Joseph News-Press for suggestions on how to spend the money and Hamilton contacted her about her buying books for her 68-year-old first-grade student.

"He was one of the ones I selected, and when I took the tape back to Oprah she contacted us and told us she wanted us to come on the show," Tant-Shafer said.

Since then, Williams and Hamilton have been featured in articles in People and Parade magazines, in various newspapers and on news shows.

"I'm just glad he gets a home out of this," Hamilton added. "I'm just thankful. A small little thing and all these layers of happiness that comes from it."

When enough money is raised, Williams plans to build his home on two lots he owns. Currently, he lives in a basement apartment.

"It's awesome man," Williams said. "Don't you know this is a great thing?"