Depression-era high school dropout finally gets his diploma
Left school in 1932 to help his family
LOCKPORT — Gordon Schorr, who dropped out of Lockport High School in 1932 to help support his family in the depths of the Great Depression, returned Wednesday night to collect his diploma.
“It gave me a real feeling of accomplishment,” said Schorr, who turns 93 Sunday. “My kids are all scholars.”
In deference to his age, Schorr, a World War II combat veteran, was allowed to sit on stage with the school administrators during Wednesday’s summer school graduation ceremony in the high school auditorium. However, he left his walker backstage and came out under his own power.
Principal Frank Movalli, reading a citation for “our honor graduate,” became choked up as he talked about Operation Recognition, as a recent amendment to the state Education Law is dubbed. It allows diplomas to be granted to veterans of World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars.
“These veterans learned geography from the places they went,” Movalli said. “They learned biology from holding wounded soldiers. ... But they didn’t learn history. They made history.”
Schorr, who landed on Omaha Beach and later took part in the Battle of the Bulge, won a Bronze Star in the Army.
Wednesday, the Amherst resident proudly wore another type of uniform — a blue cap and gown over a suit and tie. He rose to accept his diploma and then sat and smiled broadly as each of the other 20 graduates strode across the stage.
His wife of 63 years, Jeanne, and his three children attended the ceremony. He has two daughters, one an artist and the other a neonatologist, and his son is a senior fellow at the University of Akron Foundation.
The bakery staff of Tops Market in Wrights Corners, after reading about Schorr in The Buffalo News a couple of weeks ago, donated a cake with his name on it, which was served at a post-graduation reception in the school cafeteria.
“I’ve retired five or six times,” said Schorr, who spent most of his post-military career at Agway’s animal feed operation in Buffalo. His jobs included grain elevator superintendent and plant manager.
Not bad for a man who dropped out of school in the 10th grade to become a farm laborer after his father was laid off from Harrison Radiator in Lockport. He later joined the Civilian Conservation Corps, working in Glacier National Park in Montana and in the Florida Everglades.
“Now that you’ve got a diploma, you can get a job,” a well wisher joked after the ceremony.
“Do you have any openings?” Schorr replied. “This time, I want to start at the top.”
