This month, thousands of happy high school seniors around the country are donning caps and gowns, collecting diplomas, and celebrating the fact they can finally move on to an exciting new chapter in their lives. And while Eleanor Benz may not have quite as much spring in her step as some of her teenage compatriots, she wore a smile as wide as any fresh graduate at her ceremony on May 30th.

For Benz, graduation day had been a long time coming: 73 years, to be precise.

The 90-year-old woman from Gurnee, Illinois had attended high school during the Great Depression, and had always loved school. But her family faced severe financial pressures, and so when Benz found a job, she left school, several months shy of her graduation date. She’d always hoped to go back and finish her studies, but life had other plans: she got married, and soon had her hands full with family life, giving birth to 15 children over the course of 23 years.