Dying Dad Sees Son Graduate

Maryland high school principal holds graduation ceremony at bedside of student's dying father.

by: Jennifer Franciotti

Posted: Mar 16, 2020 / 10:22 AM CDT / Updated: Mar 16, 2020 / 10:22 AM CDT

(WBAL) A dying father was able to see his son graduate early thanks to the quick actions of a Maryland high school principal who made a bedside ceremony happen within hours.

Andrew Pawlack suffered a stroke five years ago and was placed in hospice care in Annapolis after heart failure.

Tina King-Myrick, mother of his son Sebastian, knew he wouldn’t make it to see thier son graduate in June, so she made a frantic call to Westminster High School Principal John Baugher for help.

“It was an emotional wave that went through me. You can’t explain that feeling, that sudden urgency,” King-Myrick says. “He said he was going straight to the school, grabbing an assortment of gowns, said he’d be there at 8 o’clock and he was there in the waiting room at 8 o’clock.”

Complete with cap and gown and music, Sebastian Pawlack walked the hallway to his dad’s bedside, where Baugher handed him his honorary diploma. Sebastian Pawlack said he can’t thank his principal enough.

“The support that he gave that day, not to just me, but to everyone, including my father, truly meant a lot to me,” Sebastian says.