Orangefield's oldest grads

Orangefield natives Stanley Simon, 95, and Rev. Abe Simon, 90, show off their long-awaited high school diplomas during Saturday’s Orangefield High School commencement ceremony at the Beaumont Civic Center. The two brothers attended and played football for Orangefield High but joined the Army during World War II prior to graduating. A state law now guarantees diplomas for students who are called to serve in wartime before graduation.

Stanley, who now lives in Beaumont, was in the Allied invasion force on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Abe, a minister for more than 60 years now living in Richmond, Virginia, was training as a paratrooper for the U.S. invasion of Japan when the war ended in late 1945.