Story highlights Horace Sheffield enrolled in college in 1959, but left to raise a family

"If I can do it at 88, anybody else can do it," he says

(CNN) Retired pastor Horace Sheffield kept the faith and received his diploma nearly six decades after first enrolling in a Georgia college.

The 88-year-old may have been the oldest graduate in Shorter University's class of 2017, but his youthful eagerness to finally earn his bachelor's degree left university officials, friends and his family in awe.

"This was one thing pop had not finished his whole life," his granddaughter Jill Brazier told CNN. "This was his drive to let us know you never give up on your dreams and that is the one thing he told the great grandchildren when he got that diploma."

Sheffield poses for a selfie with his great grandchildren Bella and Lilly.

Sheffield first enrolled at Shorter University in 1959, but later left before completing his degree because he had to take care of his family.

"I couldn't go to school and educate my kids at the same time," he told CNN after the commencement ceremony on May 5.

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