At age 101, his college dreams fulfilled

By BENJAMIN KEPPLE
Copyright Permission by: The Union Leader
Thursday, Dec. 25, 2008

A group of business students at the University of New Hampshire made a Bedford centenarian an honorary member of their class, making the man's dream of going to college come true.

John Heim, whom friends said still manages his own business affairs at the age of 101, was awarded the honor in a surprise ceremony earlier this month at Carlyle Place, the Bedford retirement home where he lives.

He was made a honorary member of the Whittemore School of Business and Economics' Entrepreneurial Venture Creation Class of 2009.

"He was smiling from ear to ear," said Jason Norton, a 24-year-old UNH senior from Sidney, Maine, who presented him with the award. "He said he was flabbergasted."

Arranging the honor was several months in the making. The request, made through the Dover-based Ageless Dreamer Foundation, came from one of Heim's friends, who knew him when he lived in New London. The non-profit group, which works to eliminate the stigma attached with aging, makes long-held dreams come true for the elderly.

Heim's business career was longer than most -- he left school in the seventh grade to help with his family's New Jersey meat and fish market. He later taught himself accounting and managed several family concerns, such as accounting for mortgage debts during the Great Depression.

He later was a real estate manager and financier, and didn't retire until he was 80. But the U.S. Army veteran regretted not having gone to college.

"I was the one who made the wish, as a secret surprise for John," said Wilmot resident Mary Gutgsell, a friend of Heim and his late wife, Gladys.

"He's a very nice person and he was very good in business. He supported his wife and stepdaughter and carried on the family business, but never went to school. He always regretted never having his hood," said Gutsgell, referring to the piece of academic dress college graduates wear at graduation.

A group of students, for their part, were working for the ADF as interns. Along with their work, Norton said, they thought it would be neat to grant a dream; and the ADF charged them with figuring out how Heim's dream could be granted.

That got the ball rolling, and on Dec. 13, the students, several of Heim's close friends, and the staff at Carlyle Place got together for the special ceremony.

"He was very surprised and very pleased with it," said Gutsgell. "I think the Ageless Dreamers did a wonderful job and the kids did a wonderful job. It was a perfect present and a wonderful present."