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Husband Accepts Wife’s Posthumous Degree From Salem College

The crowd applauded as Aaron walked across the stage to receive her degree and stole, a very emotional moment for the husband and faculty on stage.
In tears, Aaron Logan pointed and looked to the sky, his wife Karen's degree in hand. Courtesy: Salem College

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Salem College’s commencement ceremony turned bittersweet when Karen Logan’s name was called from the podium in the LJVM Coliseum.

Karen was not there. She passed away last summer from injuries suffered when a pickup truck struck her and her husband Aaron Logan in downtown Winston-Salem.

The College decided to award Karen her degree on her expected graduation day posthumously in front of her fellow Salem sisters.

“When we realized that this would’ve been Karen’s degree completion year, the College made the decision that they wanted to award her degree posthumous,” said Betty Telford, Interim Dean of the Martha H. Fleer Center for Adult Education. “She had done very, very well and it was an easy decision.”

Telford mentioned that Karen’s husband had requested to meet Salem College’s president to discuss the possibility of doing this, as if the College and Aaron had read each other’s minds.

“It was very emotional,” Telford said. “He was very touched.”

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At the commencement ceremony, the Junior Marshals prompted Logan to join the line at the base of the stage waiting for his wife’s name to be called for the candidates for the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.

"Karen Dyson Logan," read Susan Calovini, Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs and Dean of the College, who followed with a description of Karen and why her husband was on stage in her place.

The crowd applauded as Aaron walked across the stage to receive her degree and stole, a very emotional moment for the husband and faculty on stage.

In tears, he pointed and looked to the sky, Karen’s degree in hand.

“We knew that it was going to be challenging for all of us,” Telford said. “But the students, the faculty, the board of trustees, all of us on stage and the public that were in attendance, everyone was very compassionate and honored Karen.”

Logan graduated magna cum laud. She was an Administrative Assistant in the department of physics at Wake Forest university.

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