[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 17511]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                               LYBA COHEN

 Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I rise today to congratulate a 
recent college graduate who resides in Rutland, Vermont. Lyba Cohen has 
joined the multitude of students who received their bachelor's degrees 
from colleges and universities across the country in the past months. 
She graduated from Lehman College in the Bronx, New York with a 
bachelor's degree in English literature with a minor in Italian. She 
also walked away with a nearly perfect GPA. Although Lyba Cohen speaks 
seven languages fluently, she considers the English language her 
greatest love. She has an insatiable love of learning, and plans to 
continue her education next fall.
  there is one detail that I have failed to mention regarding this 
recent college graduate. Mr. President, Lyba Cohen is 82 years old. she 
was born and raised in Estonia, became part of the Zionist movement 
after high school, and was among the first people to settle the state 
of Israel. A woman who has worn many hats throughout her life, Mrs. 
Cohen is a tribute to students and senior citizens alike. She relocated 
to Rutland two years ago, and I am proud to honor this fascinating 
Vermonter. Mrs. Cohen has led a rich and fulfilling life,and at 82 she 
has embarked on yet another journey. this unique student deserves 
recognition, and I ask that the article from the Rutland daily Herald 
be printed in the Record so that all Senators may read about this 
remarkable women.
  The article follows.

    A Lifelong Learner--Rutland Woman Earns College Degree at Age 82

                           (By Cauley Greene)

       Lyba Cohen is a great student. She's graduating with a sky-
     high GPA and a bachelor's degree in English literature with a 
     minor in Italian.
       Like other graduates, she looks forward to a summer of rest 
     before deciding whether to delve back into academia.
       But unlike most college graduates, Cohen is 82 years old.
       She'll be accepting her diploma from Lehman College in the 
     Bronx, N.Y., on Friday with the rest of the class of 1999.
       The more than 60 years between her high school diploma and 
     her bachelor's degree have been packed full with feats that 
     make her latest accomplishment seem more like a brief stop 
     along the way than a final destination.
       She has been a pioneer, a working mother and, most 
     recently, a student.
       Although her life as a traditional student began 10 years 
     ago at a non-traditional age, Cohen has been something of a 
     student all her life, learning as she went along.
       Born and raised in Estonia, Cohen ventured off the beaten 
     path early.
       ``When I graduated from high school I joined a group of 
     friends that I had in a Zionist youth organization,'' she 
     said. For two years the group trained for a life in 
     agriculture, to be among the first to settle what is now 
     Israel.

                           *   *   *   *   *

       When war broke out in 1948, Abraham traveled back and forth 
     to Israel while Lyba stayed in New York, helping her father-
     in-law with the family bakery. After the war ended her 
     husband returned and took over the bakery. Cohen helped run 
     the business until their two sons were out of school.
       In 1970, she took the civil service test and took a 
     position with the New York City Human Resources 
     Administration, where she worked for 17 years, living in the 
     Bronx. Widowed in 1973, Cohen lived and worked in the Bronx 
     by herself. She retired in 1987.
       Restless and driven by what she described as a love of the 
     English language, she enrolled at Lehman College a year after 
     she retired. An interest in English, sparked when Cohen was 
     in high school, guided her toward a concentration in 
     literature and modern language.
       ``I just fell in love with the English language,'' she said 
     of her high school years.
       She has been taking college classes since 1988, averaging 
     two courses a semester.
       ``It took me a very long time because of health problems 
     and hospital says,'' she said. Her health and other factors 
     prompted her move from the Bronx to Ruthland in December 
     1997, but she stayed in school.
       ``I didn't give up,'' she said.
       She now lives across the street from her son, Barry Cohen. 
     Her other son, Boaz, who lives in Warren N.J., will join the 
     family as they watch her accept her diploma.
       The move made finishing her degree more difficult, but Lyba 
     Cohen said she's glad she came north.
       ``I love it here, it's a wonderful place . . . I wish I had 
     come here earlier,'' she said.
       Her love of language is greater. She speaks seven different 
     tongues, and when she speaks it seems every word she uses has 
     been carefully chosen. She cites the same discrimination in 
     her favorite author, Vladimir Nabokov, who also learned 
     English as a second language.
       ``I like him, I like his linguistic proficiency,'' she 
     said.
       Cohen's love of language has also translated into academic 
     success. She has received grades higher than an ``A'' in her 
     last two semesters, and was told by her professor that three 
     papers on author Toni Morrison she had recently done were 
     written on a graduate level. Cohen's GPA is also very high, 
     but she said that it doesn't really matter to her.
       ``It's close to 4.0, I think . . . It's really of no 
     importance to me at all. The fact is I've acquired a lot of 
     knowledge, she said.
       Which begs the question: what will she do with her degree? 
     Her answer probably echoes that of graduates 60 years her 
     junior.
       ``After the summer I'm going to think about taking some 
     courses . . . but I have the summer to think about it,'' she 
     said.

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