96-year-old Hermosa Beach man finally gets his USC degree

Alfonso Gonzales was the first person in his family to go to college, but he missed his graduation ceremony at USC more than six decades ago.

The Hermosa Beach resident — who treated wounded soldiers on the battlefield as a Marine in World War II — had to work that day in 1953. He never got his diploma, but hit the ground ruing building his new soil company, which would go on to be a long-standing South Bay success.

So when Gonzales’ family recently inquired about getting a copy from the university, they were in for a shock: though he was eligible to walk the graduation stage all those years ago, he unknowingly hadn’t finished his course work for a degree. It tued out he was short by just one unit.

The 96-year-old was determined to finish what he started, enrolling this semester in an independent study course developed just for him by USC, which also reopened the long-since-closed zoology major he had studied.

On Friday, Gonzales — or “Ponchie” as friends and family call him — was all smiles and the center of attention at the USC Davis School of Gerontology commencement ceremony, where he became the oldest person to graduate in the university’s 136-year history.

He received a standing ovation from his peers and cheering family members after Dean Pinchas Cohen called him “a terrific role model for the lesson of lifelong leaing.”

The new grad told reporters that finally getting his diploma was “a great feeling.”

“It took me 65 years to complete my studies, but I did,” he told KTLA, beaming.

Bo in Lompoc in 1920, Gonzales grew up in Hermosa Beach, graduating from Redondo Union High School in 1939 before joining the Navy and, later, the Marines. After his military service and college, he ran his Torrance planting mix company, Compo-Loam, for 55 years until he retired in 2008. He never married or had children, but has a large and close extended family.

Gonzales was enthusiastic about resuming his studies, wearing the same coat and hat from his college days when he retued to campus.

During spring semester, he met with a professor weekly, sat in on gerontology classes and worked on take-home assignments for his course on autobiographies, writing his own as a senior thesis term paper.

His professor, Aaron Hagedo, said Gonzales is “highly motivated by reminiscing and loves to read biographies on his own. He knew a lot about Abraham Lincoln and Benjamin Franklin, so we related their biographies to his. All three devoted tremendous energy to their work, and their life story is deeply impacted by their work experience.”

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Gonzales made friends with his classmates, sharing stories of his days on the campus in the late 1940s, as well as words of wisdom.

“Don’t forget that you’re going to be our future leaders. You’re needed in our society,” he told USC News. “You’ll change America — but don’t change it too much, we’ve got something nice here.”

In a statement, Cohen said Gonzales is “setting an incredibly positive example for other adults in America and around the world.“

“He embodies the fact that leaing opportunities never stop,” he said. “People can develop new skills and grow at any age.”

There’s no word on whether Gonzales plans to enroll in grad school.

“I enjoyed coming to USC, and I enjoyed the atmosphere of knowledge,” he told USC News. “Knowledge is intrinsic, and that can never be taken away from you.”