Maude Bristol-Perry is a true pioneer.
She was the first Black Calhoun County Supervisor, the first Black female on the Battle Creek City Commission and the first female mayor and vice mayor of Battle Creek. She was a trailblazer in the regional child care community, an area she’s worked in for 52 years as founder and owner of Sugar and Spice Child Care Center of Battle Creek.
She’s launched after-school programs, advocated for better local schools and jobs, and served on more than two dozen community boards.
This spring, she added another feather to her (graduation) cap, becoming the oldest graduate in the history of Kellogg Community College.
“I became a first, but I wasn’t striving to be a first or anything,” she said in a recent interview. “I just happened to be there, and I was just willing to serve because I thought about community. I want where I live to be a place where people want to live.”
Bristol-Perry, who graduated with an Associate in Applied Science degree in Early Childhood Education in December and walked at KCC’s May Commencement at 87 years old, was Commencement Speaker at this year’s ceremony.
A major subject of her speech – informed by decades of insight and experience – was encouragement.
“All my life journey, it’s always been one of encouragement. I have so many stories that someone encouraged me every step of the way to become involved. And that’s what I did,” she said. “I think it’s very important to say to the younger generation to use your voice and develop your skills. And most of all, be an encourager. Because everything I did, someone encouraged me along the way, supporting me in everything I did.”
Bristol-Perry graduated from Battle Creek Central High School in 1956, the same year KCC was founded as Battle Creek Community College in the Grand Army Republic Hall across the street from the high school. She took some general education classes at KCC after attending another college in Grand Rapids, but never finished a degree.
She returned to school as an adult with encouragement from peers in part to learn about what’s new in the field of education, in part to help her train her staff at Sugar and Spice, and in part to encourage the next generation of students who are under her care.
“You’re really never too old to learn because that keeps you up with your mind and your intellect and things that are meaningful not only to the children, but to the parents,” she said. “You can’t teach children what you don’t know. As you continue to learn and grow with the process, with the new techniques, it gives growth and encouragement and confidence not only in yourself but to the children.”
Things were different when she first took classes all those decades ago at KCC – especially the technology – but the transformative power of education remains the same.
“The power of education is the knowledge that you have to pursue a better life, a quality life, especially for children,” she said. “In order to do that, you have to learn the new strategies of the way education has changed and adapt to the new situation. And that’s what I did.”
This article first appeared in the June 2025 edition of BruIN magazine. To read the issue online, please visit kellogg.edu/bruinmagazine.
