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Battalora perfects art of learning
by Ada Reid Slant on Seniors
Harold Battalora made his dad a promise before he died that the younger Battalora would inish his degree. He had studied at lulane University and left college in
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1953 but always knew he would ?etum and finish. His father was an orthopedic physician and the family ived in New Orleans, but spent summers and many weekends in their Bay SL Louis beach home.
His parents, Dr. George C. and Vlarie Battalora, moved to Bay St. Louis after Harold married in 1947. He had three brothers and one sis-:er. His sister, Ellie Seiler, lives in Mandeville, La. His brother, Dr. George C. Battalora Jr.. a retired orthopedic surgeon, lives in Covington and his brother John R. Battalora, lives in Houston, Texas. His youngest brother, Albert L. Battalora, lives with Harold and his wife in Bay St Louis.
Harold finished Jesuit High School and began college atTulane University. He married his wife, Caroline. She was also from New Orleans, where
_______	they lived until
-------	1955. He
attended both Tulane and Soule? Business College at the same time, until they moved to Lafayette in 1955. He began his career as a salesman with National Gypsum Co. In Lafayette, he was a branch manager for U.S. Plywood. Later he worked for Flintkote in sales. Harold moved back to New Orleans and when his family moved from the Coast to Covington in 1963, he moved to the family home in Bay St. Louis and they have lived there ever since.
In 1975, he, his wife and daughter, Cecelia, started Pass Wholesale Co. in Pass Christian. Cecelia was only 18 at the time. Harold has always done some building, renovations and construction and with his background in the sales of building materials, it was a natural for them to open the wholesale company.
The Battaloras have six children. Daughter Cynthia is married to Gayle Owens, a dentist. They live in Missouri and have 11 children. Daughter Dayle Marie and husband, Larry Gagnon, live in Bay St. Louis and have two children. Larry is a shift superintendent at DuPont. Son Harold Jr. and wife, Kathy, live in Mandeville, La. and have two children. He is a geophysicist for Murphy Oil and she is a graduate nurse.
Daughter Cecelia Stahl has four children. She is the co-owner of Pass Wholesale and lives in Waveland.
Daughter Ellie Williams and husband, Scott, have six children and are expecting their seventh in November. They live in Jackson.
Son Michael lives in Manheim,
ADA REID/SPECIAL TO THE SUN HERALD
Harold Battalora takes a break at the counter of Pass Wholesale Co. in Pass Christian, which is co-owned by him, his wife and daughter, Cecelia Stahl. Harold returned to school in 1996 and received his bachelor?s degree this year at age 70.
Germany, where he works for BASF Corporation. He and wife, Wendy, have one child. The Battalora's have seven great grandchildren.
In 1996, Harold heard about the Test Drive-A-Degree program at the University of Southern Mississippi.
It offers a free course to students who have been out of school for at least three years. USM also offers free tuition for seniors over age 62 who are retired. Harold took the courses he needed to complete his degree. He was a senior in the school of business when he decided to change majors to history.
Help with test-taking
He recalls he almost quit after scoring a ?D? on a ?bubble? (Scantron) test because he didn?t make his marks hard enough for the computer to pick them up. Also, the sheet had to be lined up just right or the answers would be wrong. He was helped out by a young man named Mark who saw the predicament and realized Harold did have the right answers and went with Harold to the instructor. His grade was changed to a ?B." Harold stayed in school and finished his degree with the encouragement of that young man.
Most of the time while in school, Harold took three courses at a time. He says that most of the classes were lectures and he took notes in shorthand. Then he would go home and transcribe the notes into the computer. He was popular among his classmates since he provided
notes for those who had missed the lectures.
He was among the 170 graduates who participated in commencement exercises on the campus of USM-Gulf Park last May with more than
2,000	family and friends present to cheer the grads on. Harold immediately began work on his master's degree. He has studied Nazi Germany and found it to be very depressing, especially the Holocaust. He has been able to get all his courses on the Coast campus and only traveled to the Hattiesburg campus to use the library. USM also has lots of history material online that Harold can pick up from the computer programs of USM. Right now he is cramming to take the Graduate Review Exam required for graduate work. He is studying ?GRE for Dummies," he says, in preparation for the exam. He plans to continue his studies and recalls that his Uncle St. John Bargas, now 88, received his doctorate when he was in his eighties. Harold is only 70.
First, however, he'll take a few months off to keep his promise that after he got his bachelor?s degree he would build a showroom at the business.
Travel and hobbies
Caroline loves to travel and they have been to the Canadian Rockies on a recent tour with the Hancock Bank Classic Club. They have also been to Europe, to Switzerland twice to visit a niece and again on an
Elderhostel program. On yet another trip, they lived in a Swiss family?s home for three weeks in Berne and stayed at a hostel in Basse l.
They attended the Tennessee Technical Institute branch at Smit. ville, Tenn., for Caroline to take a course in weaving and him to take course in leaded glass. Their next trip is planned to Branson. Mo. An ice storm thwarted earlier plans to go there. They were in Boston last October for a son?s wedding and went on to New Hampshire for the fall leaves after the wedding, even though it snowed while there.
Harold has been making oriental rugs since learning the skill at a workshop in Diamondhead in 1985 He and his daughter took the course. He makes the rugs while watching ballgames. Harold also likes to work in the yard. He says h has an ide&l situation for fishing. H: son and son-in-law have a boat so h goes with them and they catch fish, come home and the boys clean the fish and bring them to his home to cook.
Going to school and studying take up a lot of Harold?s time. Two years ago, he enrolled in a program in England for five weeks and receive' sLx hours credit for the class. He ha hoped to take his wife with him for noncredit course but found it was not allowed.
Harold and Caroline are members of Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church in Bay St. Louis. He is a Eucharistic Minister and a Reader. Caroline is part of a Bible study group at the church. He and Caroline also get to do a lot of baby-sittin for grandchildren.
Harold had slacked up on the hours put in at their company, but ie back to working more hours now. He is also continuing a remodeling project at home, and says that he ha been doing some sort of renovation: or remodeling on the house since 1963 when they moved there. Everything else will be set aside for awhile so he can complete the showroom project at Pass Wholesale. Then he?l begin his classes and his other projects again.
Harold Battalora should be an encouragement to other seniors that we are never too old to learn and never too old to get that degree. Maybe it was a promise to your parents, maybe a promise to yourself or maybe it is a goal you want to make for yourself. It?s not too late. Check out the programs available at USM and at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, which both offer free tuition for seniors.
Free-lance writer Ada Reid is grandmother of 12. She writes about seniors and seniors' events for The Sun Herald. Freelance writer Ada Reid is grandmother of 12. She writes about seniors and seniors' events for The Sun Herald. You can write to her at 108 Clower Avenue, Long Beach MS 39560; or e-mail: slntonsr@aol.com.