At 91 years old, Jean De Servien-Kenwood will graduate with his doctoral degree this weekend, honoring a promise he made to his late wife.

De Servien-Kenwood attended the University of Colorado Boulder in the 1960s and completed all of the coursework for his doctoral degree in French. But he left to pursue a teaching job before finishing his dissertation.

Now, De Servien-Kenwood is finishing what he started more than 60 years ago.

“It was a promise to my wife and something I wanted to do to achieve myself,” De Servien-Kenwood said.

Born in France, De Servien-Kenwood and his wife, Madeleine, were teaching high school in Spain when they decided to move to the United States and enroll at the University of Colorado Boulder in the early 1960s. They both earned their master’s degrees from the French department at CU Boulder and started on their doctoral degrees. But before they finished, they decided to leave CU Boulder and move to New Jersey to become French professors at Montclair State University.

His wife took the time to return to CU Boulder to finish her doctoral degree, and De Servien-Kenwood promised his wife he’d someday do the same. When she became ill, they moved to Milwaukee to be closer to family, and De Servien-Kenwood served as her caretaker until she died in January 2020.

After his wife died, De Servien-Kenwood started writing novels. After he wrote his second novel, he said, he felt ready to finally write his dissertation. He wrote it about French author Georges Bernanos; in English, the title of his dissertation is “Spirituality in the novels of Georges Bernanos.” De Servien-Kenwood’s three novels and his dissertation are written in French, his native language.

He said he’s proud of himself for finishing his dissertation and working hard to do so.

“I did it because I wanted to do it, and I have the will to do it, and I work hard at it,” De Servien-Kenwood said. “But it’s not a must. You must feel it, you must have a good feeling about it, and to really say I want to achieve something for myself. And I did it for myself more than anything else, and for my wife, of course.”

Warren Motte, a distinguished professor emeritus in the French department, said working with De Servien-Kenwood was one of the highlights of his career. Motte said he’s an “exceptional person,” and he is not only highly intelligent but extremely kind.

“The commitment that (finishing a PhD) entails and the work that that entails is very, very significant,” Motte said. “At the university on the faculty, all of us have PhDs, so we don’t think very much about it, but earning a PhD is a big, big deal, it really is, and the fact that he should come back to the university after all those years and earn his PhD is a big, big deal. I admire his fortitude and his ambition. I think it’s a terrific thing to do.”

De Servien-Kenwood spent his entire career teaching French. Now, he’s writing his fourth novel and looking forward to turning 92 in October.

“I’m going to be 92 very soon, so for my age group, I think I’m doing fine,” he said. “I have nothing to complain about, and I’m ready for whatever is next.”

CU Boulder’s main commencement ceremony will take place at 8:30 a.m. Saturday at Folsom Field. No tickets are required.

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