DOMINGUEZ HILLS : Class of ’95 Includes Avid Genealogist, 77

At age 8, Helen Proctor knew she wanted to go to college, and although it took her 69 years, she will graduate Saturday with a bachelor of arts degree from Cal State Dominguez Hills.

Proctor, 77, will be one of the oldest of the 3,800 students graduating from the university Saturday at 10 a.m.

An avid genealogist, Proctor hopes that her new degree in geography will help her locate her Welsh ancestors. Working for her degree helped her learn about other cultures and how to read maps, which will help in tracing her lineage, Proctor says. She and a nephew have been piecing together the family tree for years.

She chose to study geography because it included courses on everything from how tropical parasites survive in temperate climates to volcanoes and plate tectonics--all kinds of things that interested her.

She decided to go to college after retiring from her job as a secretary at Aerospace Corp. She grew up in Denver, where she graduated from high school and attended Colorado Women’s College. She graduated with an associate of arts degree from that school just before the start of World War II.

But at the women’s college they taught women how to entertain your husband’s boss, how to get along in a church or society group, and how to support yourself if you had to, she said. She didn’t continue her education because she was supporting her husband while he got his college degrees and worked on his doctorate in economics.

In 1985, when she decided to get a bachelor’s degree, so few of her credits transferred to the California system that she had to start over. Before attending Dominguez Hills, Proctor received a degree from El Camino College.

Colleges and universities holding graduation ceremonies in the next few weeks include:

* Cal State Dominguez Hills: Saturday beginning at 10 a.m. and continuing throughout the day.

* El Camino College: Friday at 4 p.m.

* Harbor Occupational Center: June 15 at 10:30 a.m.

* Los Angeles Harbor College: today at 6 p.m.

* Los Angeles Southwest College: today at 4 p.m.

* Northrop-Rice Aviation Institute of Technology: June 16 at 10 a.m.