Joshlyn Lacy last wore a cap and gown just three years ago at Amanda Elzy High School.
For her mom, Juanita Lacy Larry, it’s been 26 years.
But the mother and daughter will both proudly walk across the stage Saturday with degrees from Mississippi Valley State University.
To top it off for the family, it’s the 66th birthday of Juanita’s mom.
“It’s perfect,” Joshlyn said of the unplanned timing of the events.
Commencement for the university’s 500 graduates will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at Rice-Totten Stadium. Judge Glenda Hatchett is the speaker.
The family will celebrate Saturday following the graduation at Whittington Park with relatives coming from as far away as Arizona.
Juanita said prayer, dedication and hard work have been the keys.
She graduated from Amanda Elzy in 1985 and went to beauty school. She runs her own business, Juanita’s Beauty Salon, L+L Bail Bonding and Juanita’s Bridal Boutique on Carrollton Avenue.
When the economy started to falter a few years ago, she began looking for a Plan B. It started with a few classes here and there and began in earnest after she selected her major, social work.
Juanita and her husband, Albert, have two younger children, Alexis, 13, and Alex, 7, and she said she wanted to show them that it could be done.
Completing the degree was a total family effort.
Her parents, Frank and Maggie Lacy, pitched in; her mother made sure the house was cleaned, and her dad did whatever needed to be done. Her husband did most of the cooking and helped the children with homework.
And hugs from her children provided Juanita encouragement to persevere, she said.
The most difficult time came when her father was diagnosed with leukemia in April 2011 — just four weeks before finals. She drove back from the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson two or three times a week while completing assignments and passing exams.
“During those tough times, I had super support all around me praying and keeping me lifted up before God,” she said. “That gave me what I need to get where I am today.”
Joshlyn graduated from Elzy in 2009. She pressed hard, taking dual enrollment classes while in high school and then summer and winter term courses, to get her criminal justice degree in three years.
Both she and her mother are graduating with honors.
Many others outside the household supported Joshlyn both financially and spiritually during college, Juanita said, including Joshlyn’s “second mother” Evangelist Dell Walker, Juanita’s parents and siblings, and Joshlyn’s uncle, Cedric Matthews, and her aunt, Bettie Lacy Simmons.
Joshlyn now plans to get her master’s degree from Jackson State University and would like to one day be a health care administrator. Her mom said she is hopeful Joshlyn will earn her doctorate.
“It’s great. They put in a lot of hard work,” said Albert Lacy.
• Contact Charlie Smith at 581-7235 or csmith@gwcommonwealth.com.
