By Nicole Jacovino

Special to the Gazette

Someone meeting Winnie Reavis in 1981 might have thought that there was little more that life could teach her. After all, Reavis had long followed her mother's advice that travel is the best teacher. And Reavis had traveled, moving from New York to France, becoming an expert chef, learning "hands-on" cooking at prestigious Parisian restaurants like La Bourdonnais, Le Bateau Beau Bourg, Dodin-Bouffant, and Prunier.

But when Reavis saw her son, Marco Williams, graduate from Harvard College in 1981, she was very proud of him. And also a little envious. "I'd like to do that, too," she thought. But the prospect was daunting. Despite all her life experience, could a woman at that stage of her life go back to college?

She could, and she did. This past June, Reavis became the second Harvard graduate in the family, by earning a bachelor's degree from the Extension School.

"Education has always been important to me," Reavis said. "I got my son through college, then put myself through college. Looking back, it's been long, but it's been satisfying."

In fact, it took her 11 years to earn her bachelor's degree. In 1986, Reavis moved to Cambridge and began working as a chef at Harvard's Faculty Club. Her specialty was cooking seafood dishes.

As a Harvard employee, Reavis was exempt from the regular tuition rates at the Extension School. "I couldn't imagine being at the University and not taking advantage of learning here," Reavis said.

Inspired by her son, a documentary filmmaker and a teacher, Reavis studied art. After three years at the Faculty Club, she switched jobs, and began working as a staff assistant at the Graduate School of Education, welcoming guests by arranging special banquets. More recently, she became a staff assistant at the Communications Department of the Office of Human Resources, organizing staff orientations and other events.

Reavis continued taking classes and she discovered something unexpected -- a love for photography. "Winnie loved photography so much that she studied with the photo department for five years," said Jack Lueders-Booth, photography administrator and tutor in visual and environmental studies.

Interestingly, she seems to have inherited her interest in the visual arts from son Marco, who is now a teacher at the North Carolina School of the Arts and a documentary filmmaker best-known for the film In Search of Our Fathers.

Just as Marco seems to be ambitious, so is his mother, especially now that's she's a cum laude graduate of Harvard. "I hope the combination of my years of work and experience combined with my bachelor's degree will lead to even more opportunities here."

But regardless of what the future holds, she plans to stay at Harvard. She's traveled, and she's learned -- and now she's home.