P23
September 2013
P
atti Burson
– former preschool owner, European tour director, welfare
worker, water-skiing instructor, weight-loss clinic proprietor and clinical
trials researcher – runs to the mailbox outside her San Diego home
every day. She’s waiting for a piece of paper, a certification from the state of
California that will enable her to launch yet another career.
In May, Burson graduated with a master’s degree in marriage and family
therapy from Grand Canyon University’s College of Arts and Sciences. She
has spent the summer filling out endless paperwork, getting fingerprinted
(twice, because the first set was too blurry) and renting office space, the next
steps in her plan to become a counselor for discouraged baby boomers and
feuding spouses.
She will be 90 in February.
“I loved every minute of it,” said Burson, who worked full time while taking
courses for 3 ½ years. “The subjects were fascinating to me, the professors,
for the most part, were very kind and friendly and, for an online course, it was
very personal. I felt so much a part of GCU.”
When the company that employed her closed its doors in 2009, Burson
started working on her next plan. She looked at several universities around
the country, and found out about GCU from rock star
Alice Cooper
, via
her cousin who’s in the music business. The kindness of a young admissions
counselor at GCU sealed the deal.
“She made many phone calls to other universities, and was greeted with
`Oh, you’re in your 80s,’ but not GCU,” said daughter
Karen Farber
, of
Westchester, N.Y., a retired principal of a school for special-needs children.
“The admissions counselor spoke to her many times during her coursework,
when she had problems or needed advice. His inviting voice, the way she was
greeted, the reception she got, made her choose GCU.”
While working on her degree, Burson battled non-Hodgkin lymphoma and
spinal stenosis, but she never gave up. That isn’t part of her DNA, Farber said.
“She has just a joy for living,” Farber said. “She just believes in herself and,
maybe more importantly, she believes in others.”
After graduation, Burson experienced a bit of media stardom and was
interviewed (see
) by two San Diego television stations,
one of which invited her to participate in a weekly call-in program. Her first
alma mater, Albright College in Reading, Pa., where she earned a bachelor’s
degree in psychology during World War II, also is planning a story. Her
husband and champion,
John Burson
, pitched her to
Katie Couric
’s daytime
TV program.
And yet, Burson remains nonplussed by all the hoopla. “My gosh, what a fuss!”
she said. “But my husband tells me, ‘There aren’t too many people who go to
school at 89 and get their master’s.”
John, 56, a personal trainer, found voice-recognition software that helped
Patti compose her essays during her course work.
“She didn’t know much about computers when she started, and I helped her
with that,” he said. “With her energy level, she seems a lot younger. To this
day, some of her friends don’t know how old she is. They’re amazed by her.”
Patti is 30 years older than the people she wants to help in her practice. She
is concerned about the baby-boom generation, many of whom are struggling
with retirement and too much time on their hands.
“These people retired way too early, and they don’t know how much golf they
can play or how many trips they can take,” she said. “I would like to put a motor
on them and get them moving again. They don’t have to work again, but they
have to have a purpose in life. You just can’t go through life without it.”
Who better to show them than Patti Burson?
■
‘Joy for living’ has prepared
counselor to help others
… TO 90
– by Janie Magruder
Patti Burson celebrates the award of her master’s degree during May’s commencement
on the GCU campus. The University’s associate provost, Dr. Kathy Player, presents
Burson with her diploma. Photo by Darryl Webb
alumni
