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Spiker's promise to late father achieved two decades later
In a non-traditional addition to Greencastle High School's commencement ceremony last week, a man twice the age of most high school graduates received his diploma.
Joe Spiker was supposed to graduate from GHS in 1994, but the loss of his father the day after he turned 16 forced him to drop out of high school halfway through his junior year.
Before his passing, the late Joe Spiker made his son promise to get his high school diploma.
"My dad, before he died, was always like, 'Make sure you finish high school no matter what you do,' and I didn't," Spiker recalled. "I told him I will get it done. But, at the time I was in school, he was alive and everything was fine."
Spiker said that promise had always weighed heavy on him, but at the time his mother, Della, and two younger siblings needed his help filling the financial void that was left after his father's passing. He began working at the Wal-Mart Distribution Center in the evenings. He would go straight to work after school and work until the early morning hours, then turn around and try to go to school.
Even though GHS administrators and some of his teachers tried to work with him in the early 1990s, the offer of overtime hours -- leaving him at work until 3 a.m. daily -- took precedent over his school work.
"I did OK on my school work, I just couldn't make it to school on time," Spiker explained, adding he finally had to make the decision to leave school and work full-time.
Spiker began working construction in 1995 for John Hall Construction, which he described as an educational experience. In 1998, he began working part-time for himself and in 2000, started Joe Spiker Excavating. He said the decision was a difficult one to make for a young guy to try and take on a business of his own, but the business continues to thrive.
Despite having a successful business under his belt, Spiker said it continued to weigh on him that he did not have a diploma. When he looked into getting a real estate license, the requirements showed he would need a diploma or equivalent.
"If I retired from this (construction) or got hurt and couldn't do this anymore, I wouldn't be able to do anything else because I didn't have a diploma," Spiker said.
His wife, Jill, encouraged him to reach out to GHS, which turned out to be a successful venture. Spiker met with Superintendent Dawn Puckett, who told him about the PLATO online classes.
"I told her I would like to do it, and she said that was fine as long as I agreed to walk across the stage and talk to some of the kids next year," Spiker said.
It was not a simple task reaching the point of getting his diploma this year. Spiker still had 20 credits to accrue before he was eligible for the diploma. There were times when he did not think he would be able to finish the task, especially when February rolled around -- the busiest construction time of the year.
"I spent every second I had thinking, 'I've got to get this done.' I did really good until February-March. That's when we get really busy. A few weeks before graduation I finished. I told my wife I don't think I'm going to make it and she said I could do it," Spiker said.
He credited his employees with picking up his slack so he could dedicate his spare time to completing the courses. With just a few weeks to spare, Spiker completed the last of his course work.
Spiker said it was strange walking across the stage with the group of teens that included his niece and her best friend, Alexis Varvel and Haley Cash. The strangest part, he noted, was several of the people he was supposed to graduate with were in attendance. Except, they were in the audience to watch their own children graduate.
A former classmate approached him after the ceremony and said he was not able to finish grade 12 when he was a teen either. He asked if it was possible to do what Spiker had done and he told him absolutely.
"If just one person gets their diploma, it will be worth it for me to help somebody else. Hopefully more people will do it. The best part of this is if I'm going to inspire somebody to get it done, it was worth it," Spiker stressed.
Spiker said he had a lot of people to thank for helping him to reach this point, including Dawn Puckett for putting faith in him to follow her stipulations. He was thankful for the help he received from retired teacher John Franklin and former guidance counselor Bette Bertram. He showed his appreciation for PLATO teacher Doug Hudson and current guidance counselor Brenda Meyer.
One of the teachers that worked closely with Spiker as he tried to juggle work and school was construction teacher Russ Hessler, who now serves as the high school principal. When he was a teacher, Hessler would run Spiker off the football field when he was goofing off. The principal was able to present Spiker with his diploma at last Friday's ceremony.
"When it was all said and done, I told everybody, 'I'm glad I did it at 40 because it wouldn't have meant a hill of beans to me at 17,'" Spiker said.