If you ask her, she is the first to tell you that at least at one point she thought her longtime goal of a doctorate might not have ever been realized. But in the same breath she'll also tell you that those thoughts didn't last long.

After more than 40 years as a teacher, counselor, principal and school administrator, Kreeger found herself with all of her course work completed and only the dissertation to write.

Then Kreeger suffered a heart attack.

"Well, I thought it was all over," recalls her advisor, Educational Administration Professor Lou Romano. "But then I get a call from her and she says 'Before I die, Dr. Romano, I want to get my doctorate.' Well, imagine that."

To those who know her, it is not difficult to imagine. It is vintage Kreeger. At 60, she decided to earn her pilot's license, and at 68 she had an elementary school in Fowlerville named after her. And even at 73, she continues to be involved in education, serving on the Intermediate School Board of Livingston County in Michigan and remains on-call as a substitute teacher.

So when MSU President Peter McPherson handed her her diploma at a meeting of the Board of Trustees last September, neither Romano or Kreeger's family were the least bit surprised by her perseverance.

It is simply Natalie Kreeger's way.

"There is nothing that makes me happier than to be in the classroom or be in the halls with the children," she said. "I come from a family of teachers, other than my husband and my children, teaching has been my life. Getting a doctorate was one of my goals, and I am glad I was able to do it."

Kreeger's career began in 1943 when she started teaching a combination kindergarten and first grade class in Hudson, Michigan. "There were 47 students in the classroom. They arrived by school bus at 8 a.m. and returned home at 4 p.m. These were children largely from families working at the bomber plant in Ypsilanti. I felt if I could live through this year as my first experience in teaching, I could manage anywhere."

And manage she did. The following year, she moved to the Fowlerville Community Schools were she would stay. Indeed, her educational career in the Fowlerville school system is almost the stuff of legend, spanning some five decades.

Through those years, she taught everything from first grade through high school. In 1964, she received her master's degree in educational administration from the College. It wasn't long after receiving her master's that she began thinking about pursuing a doctorate. Even then, it was clear to her that she would pursue the doctorate at MSU. Her father had been a graduate of MSU, and she has two grandchildren who are attending the university. But it wasn't until seven years ago, when she retired, that she began to seriously pursue a doctorate. She enrolled and made her way through the course work, and when she suffered her heart attack her husband and family were unflinching in their support. Kreeger recovered quickly from the heart attack. Romano informed her Ph.D. committee, and began driving to her home to meet with her and discuss her dissertation. She plowed into the research and by the spring of 1996, she had done it. For Kreeger, it was difficult but well worth the effort, for it was a goal achieved in a profession she loves. "I'll never stop teaching," she said. "They'll have to put me in a wheelchair first."

Natalie Kreeger, 73, managed to earn a doctorate despite suffering a heart attack.