72-year-old Naples man walks at commencement 50 years after graduating

After needing a transplant, Larry Goode, a 72-year-old from Naples walked at the Rollins College commencement ceremony on Sunday.

In 1972 Goode missed his commencement because he needed a Cornea transplant. He went home to get on the transplant list in Washington D.C.

Goode said, “I contacted one of my contacts at Rollins in the fall, and said, could I do it this year since it’s my reunion here? And she said, ‘you know, nobody’s ever asked that before.'”

The answer was yes. Just like that Goode would attend the 2022 Rollins College commencement ceremony.

He was thrilled and inspired by the Valedictorian. She’s a student with a non-verbal form of autism. She typed her speech and had it read out loud.

“She made it through four years of college 4.0 Grade Point, valedictorian, Good says. “And did it by having to type out everything she wanted to say.”

Goode is living proof you’re never too old to do what you want.

“I guess, you know, you get to a point in your life where you realize there’s more days behind you than are ahead of you, Goode says. “And I said that was a place I wanted to go.”