Fairview, Utah native Oneita Sumsion made history in June 2020 as BYU’s oldest-ever graduate when she received her Bachelor of Arts in journalism from the School of Communications at 90 years old. According to the Daily Herald, the previous record for the oldest graduate in BYU history was held by Fred Paulson Jr., at age 80 in 2018.
Sumsion’s journey to receiving her journalism degree had been in the making for many, many years.
“Life just happened” In 1987, Sumsion was working as a journalist while attending BYU as a student. Sumsion said she was close to graduating when her husband told her they would be serving a mission in England. With the sudden news, Sumsion left for her mission with her husband, even though she was supposed to graduate that spring. She only had one class left to take before she could have graduated with her degree in journalism.
When Sumsion returned from her mission, she was unable to go back to BYU and graduate. Life quickly moved on.
She said she was blessed with two children and served five missions with her husband. She served in Nauvoo, the Provo MTC, the Springville Family History Center and went to England twice. She worked for many years as a journalist and editor at the Springville Herald, the Deseret News and the Daily Herald.
Read the full story by Kristine Kim on the Daily Universe.