Graduate, 100, receives degree

FORT WORTH, Texas -- When Eugene Florence wanted to become a preacher in the 1940s, he had to attend seminary at night because black students weren't allowed to take day classes.

On Friday, 53 years after he graduated with a theology degree, 100-year-old Florence was awarded a master of divinity degree at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Officials said they were correcting the injustice he endured at the then-segregated institution.

"There's no way the seminary could go back and atone for all of its mistakes," said Paige Patterson, the seminary's president. "But we could do at least one thing to say ... 'we're sorry for where we got it wrong."'

Patterson said Florence actually earned the master's degree in 1951 after taking classes two nights a week for eight years. Patterson said the previous race policy, which barred black students from receiving master's degrees, was "unbiblical, ungodly and unchristian in every way."

As Florence leaned on his cane and slowly walked up the steps at the front of Travis Avenue Baptist Church to receive his diploma, the crowd of more than 2,000 rose to its feet and applauded loudly. Some people cheered, and others shouted, "Hallelujah!"

After the ceremony, Florence said that in the 1940s he never thought much about being barred from the Fort Worth seminary's day classes because of how society was at the time.

He said he appreciated Patterson's apology because "he meant it from the heart" and was happy to receive his new diploma.

"I feel good about it because it was so long coming," said Florence, who still preaches about twice a month at various churches.

Florence, who still drives and does his own gardening and mowing, has outlived five wives and three of his children. He said he has no plans to step down from the pulpit. He jokes that he's really only 25 -- after all, his birthday is Feb. 29, which pops up on the calendar every four years.