Five-star Violet gets another diploma

VIOLET Turnbull has had a lifelong thirst for education. And she’s not letting up.

The remarkable lady, who remained tightlipped on her age, was presented with a diploma in development studies from University College Cork’s Centre for Adult Continuing Education on Saturday — her fifth diploma in the last 20 years.

Violet, who says she is “in the borrowed years of later life,” took an archaeology course at the centre in 1978 with Professor Michael O’Kelly — the man who led the excavation of New Grange in 1963.

She then pursued the diploma in the history of art, followed on by a diploma in local and regional Studies.

And despite the intense two-year development course she has just completed, Violet’s signing up for another one — a one-year diploma in women’s studies.

“Violet has proved to be an inspiration to so many people, not only the other mature students, but the tutors and lecturers who teach her, and the course coordinators and administrators in the centre who have regular contact with her,” said Dr Rosarii Griffin of the Adult Continuing Education Centre.

“In effect, Violet has become a house-hold name in the centre.

“She is truly a wonderful example of what it means to be a lifelong learner.”

Violet, however, said that she couldn’t have done it without her friend Veronica Curran. Who, she said, typed all her essays for the past 20 years without ever making a single mistake.

Violet, whose late husband Gus was a well-known Cork-based solicitor, was one of 1,050 adult learners who were presented with their certificates and diplomas at awards ceremonies at the weekend.

Professor Máirtín Ó Fathaigh, the college’s director for adult continuing Education, congratulated all of those being honoured at the ceremony.

“I also congratulate the significant others in their lives: family, partners, children, friends, parents and others,” he said.

“Their patient understanding and positive support were of enormous value during the courses of study. I also wish to laud the different work settings who facilitated participation in the continuing professional education of employees”.