{"id":66967,"date":"2006-04-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-04-25T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-golden-grads-to-help-lead-granddaughters-commencement-procession\/"},"modified":"2006-04-25T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2006-04-25T00:00:00","slug":"uri-golden-grads-to-help-lead-granddaughters-commencement-procession","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2006\/04\/uri-golden-grads-to-help-lead-granddaughters-commencement-procession\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 \u2018Golden Grads\u2019 to help lead granddaughter\u2019s commencement procession"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tKINGSTON, R.I. — April 25, 2006 — When Arlene and John Leyden graduated from the 溏心vlog免费B站 in 1956, they never expected they would help lead their granddaughter Erin Leyden\u2019s commencement procession 50 years later.<\/p>\n


\nAs is tradition, the members of the 50th class reunion lead the procession, followed the faculty and graduates. This year\u2019s undergraduate commencement exercises will be held on Sunday, May 21. <\/p>\n


\n\u201cIt feels like just yesterday we were the ones graduating,\u201d said John.<\/p>\n


\n Arlene, a Sigma Kappa alumna and John, a Theta Chi alumnus, met at 溏心vlog免费B站 while each was trying to set the other up with a friend. In the process the two fell for each other, and married soon after they graduated. This June they will celebrate their own golden anniversary.<\/p>\n


\n \u201cThis is quite a year for us,\u201d said Arlene.<\/p>\n


\nAlthough they did not earn their degrees in education, the East Greenwich couple each enjoyed a 30-year teaching career. Arlene taught second grade at Coventry Elementary School, and John taught agricultural classes at Scituate Junior-Senior High School. Erin will earn a double degree in psychology and elementary education and pursue a teaching career as well.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cMy grandparents\u2019 love for teaching and passion for education really had a big influence on me while I was growing up,\u201d said Erin, who is student- teaching this semester at Peace Dale Elementary School. \u201cI have known since I was five that I wanted to be a teacher. My mother is also a teacher, so a love for wanting to help children must run in my family.\u201d <\/p>\n


\nArlene and John said they are thrilled their granddaughter is going to follow in their footsteps. \u201cErin is a natural born teacher,\u201d John said. \u201cShe really has a knack for helping children.\u201d <\/p>\n


\nArlene added, \u201cWe know she will be a good educator, and we need good educators for the future of this country.\u201d <\/p>\n


\n The Leyden family\u2019s background involving children and education extends beyond the classroom, as John also used his degree in environmental and life sciences to start Big John\u2019s Christmas Tree Farm in West Greenwich in 1970. The farm continues to serve as a popular attraction for children and their families in late November and December.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cI essentially grew up working on the Christmas tree farm,\u201d said Erin, who, like her grandparents, lives in East Greenwich. \u201cThere hasn\u2019t been one year that I haven\u2019t been a part of helping my grandparents with everything we do there, from planting and growing the trees to helping entertain the kids who come on field trips.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nErin said she is proud to go out and use her 溏心vlog免费B站 education to positively influence children, as her grandparents did after they graduated,\u201d she said. \u201cEven if it\u2019s just a small one, I know I too will be making a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nErin, John, and Arlene (l-r) at a Leyden family gathering. Photo courtesy of the Leydens.<\/p>\n

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KINGSTON, R.I. — April 25, 2006 — When Arlene and John Leyden graduated from the 溏心vlog免费B站 in 1956, they never expected they would help lead their granddaughter Erin Leyden\u2019s commencement procession 50 years later. As is tradition, the members of the 50th class reunion lead the procession, followed the faculty and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66969,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}