Harriett Libby finished Middlesex High School in 1960, married Howard Roane that September, and set her heart on finishing her education with a college degree. She had felt a calling to the ministry when she was 17, but "colleges were so far away" from her Urbanna home.

Now living at Glenns, with the support of her husband and three grown daughters, Roane, 69, has finally earned that degree, a bachelor of science in management and leadership from Bluefield College. Her studies were sidetracked many times by the responsibility not only of raising a family, but through frequent hospitalizations for bipolar disorder, as well.

But, she said, "I’m an achiever and I wanted to get that degree. If you really want it bad enough to make the sacrifices," such as time away from the family while hitting the books, "you can get it at any age, if it is something you’ve desired all your life."

The bachelor’s degree, which she earned in December a...