The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read

The Oldest Student

By Rita Lorraine Hubbard

Can you imagine living from the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement? Can you imagine learning to read at age 116? Mary Walker achieved her lifelong dream to learn to read when she was 116. How about imagining your first airplane flight at age 119? Mary surmised that "flying was a lot like reading: they both made a body feel free as a bird."