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WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — At an age when most people are retired, or at least tired, 75-year-old Mary Coleman isn’t. After raising 12 children of her own, the grandmother of 35 is passionate about helping to raise other children in the best way she can.

“They come running down the hall and jump into my arms,” smiles “Miss Mary.”

Coleman works full time at Mud Pies Child Development Center in downtown Winston-Salem and is also in school at Forsyth Tech studying early childhood education. Her GPA? A cool 4.0.

It’s not the first time she’s been somewhat of an unconventional student. She was newly divorced, living in Mississippi with nine children and went back to school to get her GED. She later went on to receive a nursing degree from Howard University. She worked as a nurse for over 30 years and began teaching young children back in 2005.

Education is clearly very important to her. Almost all of her children have college degrees, a few have master’s degrees and one has a Ph.D.

“I just never wanted to give up. I wanted to better myself and I wanted to be a model for my children,” Coleman said. “It’s important to have teachers that really want to teach and I do. I also want to show the parents that you have to keep going. You can do whatever you want to. It’s not easy, but you can do it.”