A Fresh Start: 75-year-old Mauldin resident achieves dreams of returning to school

If it’s one thing that Furman Sharpe understands, it’s that times have changed since he was in high school — especially in the area of technology.

There were no iphones, electronic blackboards or laptops back then. And the dot.com bubble was nowhere near forming, much less bursting.

Nevertheless, none of that stopped the Mauldin resident from achieving his long-term dream of going back to school.

Sharpe is 75 years young and a student at Greenville Technical College. After graduating from high school in his native Statesville, N.C., he later enrolled in AT&T where he was going to major in English.

“I wanted to be a (school) principal,” he said.

That all changed when he was drafted in the U.S. Army. After serving in the military for three years, school was put on the backburner. Instead, he acquired numerous job skills, working in construction, and as a maintenance supervisor, a chef and printer. But all the while, thoughts of returning to college lingered in the back of his mind.

“I was thinking about it but I never put forth an effort,” said Sharpe, whose wife, Esther, finally gave him just the nudge he needed to finish what he started decades ago.

He recently completed his first semester at Greenville Tech and is considering a degree in human services. Esther Sharpe is proud of what her husband has accomplished thus far, especially since she saw how hard he worked. “It was school, school, school. He’d stayed up some nights 11 p.m. and 12 a.m. studying,” she said. “From here on, I think it’s going to be easier.”

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