(Radio Iowa) – An Eastern Iowa native finally got to walk down the aisle in the graduation ceremony at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon this weekend — eight decades after getting his degree in music. Fred Taylor he wasn’t able to attend his ceremony the first time because he left school to serve during World War Two in the United States Army Air Corps. Taylor is 101 and told K-C-R-G T-V the ceremony brought everything full circle.

Taylor is a Springville, Iowa native who now lives in California. He joined the Army Air Corps Reserve shortly after Pearl Harbor and was unable to attend graduation after being sent to training in 1943. Taylor went on to teach music in Iowa and California after the war.