A 106-year-old man from South Carolina has been awarded an honorary high school diploma. His name is Fred Allen Smalls. He was awarded the honorary degree at a ceremony attended by hundreds of people at the state’s Georgetown High School over the weekend last week.
Smalls’ youngest granddaughter, Birdella Kinney, had been trying for more than a year to get her grandfather the degree and organize the ceremony. Georgetown Mayor Carol Zero and District Superintendent Keith Price attended the graduation ceremony.
On February 5, 1918, in the Plantersville neighborhood of Georgetown County, Smalls was born. They are seven siblings. Kinney told ABC 15 News that Smalls was raised by his grandmother Daphne Greggs and aunt Ella Walker.
Smalls attended fifth grade at an unnamed school in the woods in Plantersville, Kinney said. When Smalls was 15 years old, he was converted to Christianity at Mount Carmel Baptist Church in Plantersville, SC.
The younger ones then moved to another town in South Carolina, Mullins, to work in a tobacco factory. His parents and siblings lived there. After that, the children studied there till the eighth standard. After studying there, he moved to Washington DC.
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Smalls worked various jobs including janitorial work at the apartment building. Finally, he worked in Washington DC for a long time. He retired in the 1960s under President John F. Kennedy.
Since then, Smalls has been happily spending time with his family and Kenny and pet dog Bella.
