AFTER HALF-CENTURY, VETERAN GETS DEGREE.

Byline: Karen McCowan The Register-Guard

CORRECTION (ran 6/12/04): The incorrect college was listed for student Julie Noll-Klarr on Page D1 on Friday. Noll-Klarr attends Northwest Christian College.

Harry Peltzer intended to take this walk a half-century ago.

When he enrolled at the University of Washington in 1942, he expected to earn his engineering degree by June 1946.

But 35 bombing missions in World War II, college calculus and a failed marriage got in the way.

Now, thanks to his college student granddaughter, Peltzer will receive his general studies degree at age 80, graduating Saturday at Husky Stadium in Seattle with the UW class of 2004.

For years, Peltzer had lived silently with his disappointment at the unfulfilled goal. He'd become such a successful businessman, no one in his family guessed he'd never earned a diploma from the alma mater he boosted so faithfully.

So it was a shock to his granddaughter last summer when they were talking about her upcoming college graduation that he confided he'd never gotten his degree.

"I just always assumed he'd graduated," said Julie Noll-Klarr, 25, a business major at Northwest Community College.

"We got to talking about his credits, and when I realized how close he'd come, I said, `We need to find out what you need to do to get your diploma!' '

She e-mailed UW on her grandfather's behalf. Janet Kime of the school's undergraduate advising office responded with even better news than Noll-Klarr had hoped for: Peltzer was just one course shy of the requirements for his degree - and the school was willing to waive it.

"I was amazed," said Peltzer, who speaks slowly and deliberately after suffering two major strokes. "I was so grateful to her. My rationale had always been that I didn't really need the degree, but I was wrong, because I'm a person who likes to accomplish things. And this is an accomplishment."

UW receives many inquiries each year from people wishing to complete long-abandoned degree work, Kime said. But few such candidates came as close to earning their diplomas as Peltzer.

"The reason we were able to graduate him was that he'd actually completed the number of credits he needed to graduate," she said. "All he lacked was one course in his program."

The university quickly decided to waive that requirement, she said, because it was a senior project designed to help graduates identify a suitable career field. Since Peltzer in 1965 founded a family business - Metal Detectors Inc. - that is still going today, officials figured he'd satisfied the intent of that course.

When Peltzer enrolled at UW after graduating with a 4.0 from nearby Highline High School, he chose engineering.

"Growing up next to Boeing, that seemed like a desirable thing to do," he said.

But before he could finish his freshman year, he realized he needed to enlist in the Air Force if he wanted to have any control over how he served his country during World War II.

He became a decorated navigator with the 459th Squadron of the 385th Bombardment Group of the Eighth Air Force. He flew 35 missions in a B-17 Flying Fortress over enemy-occupied Europe, was twice shot down and was awarded an Air Medal as well as First, Second, Third and Fourth Oak Leaf Stars.

Upon his return to civilian life, he immediately married his high school sweetheart and returned to school. It was a frustrating experience, as he realized he wasn't suited for engineering.

"I just couldn't hack the calculus," he recalled.

He switched majors to what was then called general studies and decided to pursue a career in business. His young marriage broke up and he moved into an apartment with friends, one that helped him land what seemed a promising job with a clay products company. When his work schedule interfered with his last remaining class, he decided to concentrate on his future employment.

By the time he remarried and started a family, he'd stopped talking about the unfinished degree - though never about his love of Husky sports teams.

"It's been dangerous to live in this town with him," joked his wife, Phyllis. "He wears his Husky jacket everywhere!"

"I live on the edge," Peltzer retorted.

When he dons his cap and gown Saturday afternoon, his granddaughter will walk beside his wheelchair. She's still finishing her studies at NCC, but will wear a UW stole.

As the card reads inside the package containing the stole: "Every graduate has special people in their life who have provided invaluable emotional, moral or financial support." More than 20 relatives are flying in for the ceremony - some from as far away as Hawaii.

Peltzer will be in heaven.

"Husky Stadium is hallowed ground," he said, grinning.

CAPTION(S):

Harry Pelzer, 80, is looking forward to his graduation at the University of Washington thanks to his granddaughter, Julie Noll-Klarr. Pelzer, one course shy of graduation, left the university to serve in World War II. Noll-Klarr called the UW and found out it would waive the credit. Pelzer flew 35 bombing missions over Germany in World War II.