Going back to school

Angelique Flores

Tired of reading trashy novels, working on puzzles and playing

solitaire, 82-year-old Pauline McIntosh decided to spend her retirement

doing something a little different -- studying for her high school

diploma.

McIntosh, a Huntington Beach resident whose schooling stopped at her

sophomore year in high school, is living proof you’re never too old to

learn.

“I decided it was the year 2000, and I was wasting my time,” said

McIntosh, who retired 25 years ago from Pacific Bell. “I thought, ‘Gee,

this is the time for me to begin to do something.”’

Things at Huntington Beach Adult School are quite a bit different from

the school she attended.

McIntosh recently peered through a microscope for the first time. And

she’s just starting to get used to what she calls her “computer” -- a

hand-held calculator introduced to her by her math teacher, Carrie Wall.

At first, using the calculator was difficult for her.

“I didn’t want anything to do with it,” she said.

McIntosh told her teacher she didn’t trust those things. But, after

some convincing, Wall said she showed McIntosh how to use the gadget.

McIntosh got used to it and admitted to Wall that “those things are kind

of handy.”

It’s pretty unusual to have someone that age go back to school, Wall

said. “She’s the only student I’ve had that calls me honey.”

Originally from Arkansas, McIntosh’s parents split up when she was 2.

She grew up dividing her time between her mother in Arkansas and her

grandparents in a small town in Missouri, where there was no high school

for her to attend.

At 18, McIntosh studied for six months to be a scrub nurse but quit

when she met her first husband, Lendennie Fowler, whose father was a

patient of hers.

“I got married and that was the end of that career,” McIntosh said.

“My husband thought I didn’t need to be out of the home.”

When her children were older, she applied for a job at Pacific Bell,

where she worked for 21 years as an operator and then as an office clerk.

Having outlived two husbands and awaiting the birth of her first

great-great-grandchild, the spry McIntosh keeps a busy schedule -- from

taking daily walks and aerobics classes to keeping up with her

grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Though she spends time with her friends, she prefers not to

participate in the usual activities at her senior community, which she

says “is just too boring.”

“Going to a restaurant to spend $35 on a meal is not fun for me,”

McIntosh said. “I can’t just sit around. Television’s not exciting, and I

can’t do needlework anymore because of my eyes. I’d just as well study

than do puzzles and read stupid novels.”

Instead, McIntosh wakes up at 6 a.m. and studies until lunch, after

which she resumes her studies until the afternoon, when her eyes start to

get tired.

“She’s as quick a learner as my other students,” Wall said. “She’s

very bright and with it. She comes in with a super attitude about

learning.”

McIntosh’s family members, many of whom are educators, have given her

a lot of encouragement.

“She’s a remarkable person. Came from a poor home life and didn’t get

chance to get an education and always wanted to. So why not?” asked L.D.

Fowler, her 59-year-old son.

McIntosh’s oldest grandson gives her high fives, and often tells her,

“Way to go Grandma, way to go,” when she tells him about school.

Missing out on the high school experience has sometimes made her an

outsider in her senior community.

“I was embarrassed,” she said. “I’d listen to them talk about ‘When I

was in high school,’ and I don’t have anything to share.”

McIntosh expects to take a special GED, or high school equivalency

exam, with enlarged letters in September.

“I feel ashamed I didn’t start earlier, but everything happens in its

own time,” McIntosh said. “If I continue to feel as good as I do, I may

take classes at Golden West College.”

Although she’s having a ball learning, McIntosh is looking forward to

finishing.

“I’ll feel like I’ve accomplished something,” she said, “and I’ll feel

good because I know I’ve pleased my children.”