CAPS AND GOWNS STANDARD FARE AS FAMILY PREPARES TO GRADUATE

Graduation caps and gowns are standard wardrobe these days for the Heath-Tipton family of Cape Girardeau.

Jane Heath-Tipton graduated from Southeast Missouri State University Saturday with a bachelor of science degree in human environmental studies, with an emphasis in gerontology.

At the same time, her daughter, Laura Tipton, 22, graduated Saturday from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a bachelor's degree in accounting.

Jane's husband, Richard Tipton, will graduate next Saturday with a doctor of osteopathy degree from the University of Health Sciences Medical School in Kansas City.

Their son, Chris Heath, 18, will graduate from Cape Girardeau Central High School June 7, as will Javier Prieto, 18, an international student from Seville, Spain, who has been living with the Heath-Tipton family this academic year.

"It's just so unique," said an exuberant Jane Heath-Tipton. "We're just so excited about it."

The only regret, she said, is that she and the rest of the family were unable to attend Laura's graduation.

For the Heath-Tipton family, homework and studying have been a way of life in recent years.

The Cape Girardeau mother first attended Southeast Missouri State in the mid-1960s. But she subsequently dropped out of school to raise a family.

Her first husband died in 1979 and in 1983 when she was in her late 30s, she went back to college to obtain a degree.

She also found time to hold a number of part-time jobs, as well as take care of her family.

"At one point, I was carrying 15 hours and holding down three part-time jobs," she recalled.

Heath-Tipton said she's glad she went back to school. "I have a passion for learning," she said with a smile.

She said she never felt out of place as a non-traditional, older student at Southeast. "I didn't ever feel at any time that I didn't fit in. I had to make the grades like the rest of them."

On Dec. 24, 1988, she married Richard Tipton, a long-time acquaintance who had been an optometrist in Cape Girardeau before deciding that he wanted to go into the radiology profession.

Heath-Tipton and her husband have spent more time apart than together as a result of their schooling he in Kansas City, and she in Cape Girardeau.

"Our phone bills have been the size of our house payments," she said.

"Every time we're together, it's like another honeymoon," she said.

Heath-Tipton said it hasn't been easy to be apart so much. "I think it takes maturity and trust to keep a marriage alive under circumstances like this."

With the entire family going to school of one sort or another, Heath-Tipton said studying has become a normal pastime in her family.

"I think this has benefited all of us," she said. "We're understanding of each other. It's good when it is that way."

She said she and her family have also enjoyed being the host family for Prieto. "It's been wonderful having him with us."

She said she only knew two words of Spanish when Prieto arrived here last fall. "When he first got here, all of us carried a Spanish-English dictionary under our arms."

When out driving with Prieto, she said, she would often pull over to the side of the road to look up the proper Spanish words to communicate with him.

"If I was out driving and saw something of interest, I'd pull over and explain it to him," she said.

Over the course of this school year, Prieto has become much more adept in speaking English.

He will be returning to Spain this summer, but he hopes to come back to Cape Girardeau to attend Southeast Missouri State University, she said.

Meanwhile, the Heath-Tipton family is preparing to move to Memphis, Tenn., at the end of this month. "We're living out of suitcases," she laughed.

She said her husband will do a one-year internship at Methodist Hospital in Memphis. Following that, he will have four years of residency training in Memphis.

While he's getting his advanced medical training, Heath-Tipton plans to spend her time back in the classroom. She plans to seek a graduate degree in social work at the University of Tennessee in Memphis.

Chris Heath has been accepted at Christian Brothers University in Memphis, where he plans to pursue a career as a forensic pathologist.

The only member of the family not moving to Memphis is Laura Tipton. She plans to pursue a graduate degree at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Heath-Tipton said it won't be hard to move to Memphis because her husband's family lives there. Also, a son, Kevin, 27, lives there.

The Cape Girardeau mother finished her undergraduate studies last semester. But, she said, she waited until this spring to graduate. "I wanted to graduate with my son," said Heath-Tipton, referring to her son's high school graduation.

As for the other graduation ceremonies, she said, "It just kind of happened that way."

She said the family has received lots of congratulations from relatives and friends. "I think family and friends are as excited about this as we are.

"It will be a month that we will never forget."