The grown children of Bourbonnais couple Gary and Lori Tison provided all the inspiration they needed to start their pursuit of a college education.

The push came to Gary bluntly as he pressed his then 20-year-old son to start college.

“He looked at me blankly and said, ‘When are you going to go to college?’” said Gary, an employee for the city of Kankakee. “I signed up the next day.”

Lori’s 20-year-old daughter, who is currently enrolled in nursing courses at Kankakee Community College, provided another prompt. And that is why the couple will be joining 391 other Kankakee Community College graduates at commencement ceremonies set for 10 a.m. today. Both will receive Associate of General Studies degrees.

The event will be held at Ryan Gym. KCC spokeswoman Kari Sargeant said graduates will range in age from 17 to 61, with the average age being 28.

<strong>Their thing</strong>

For Gary, 40, and Lori, 43, starting college was a big step. For help, they turned to each other, making college a couple’s activity.

“This was our thing,” said Lori. “We wanted to do it together — to graduate together. It was truly a joint effort.”

Most of their classes were online courses they took at the same time. They passed many evenings in front of the computer. To save money, they shared all of their textbooks. And when it came time to produce research papers, they could swap them to make suggestions or check facts.

“I’d grade her papers, and she’d grade mine,” said Gary. “We figured two brains were a little easier than just one.”

Being animal lovers, both enjoyed their biology and life sciences courses, and the humanities class helped them see the world in a different way. Gary noticed it most on one of the couple’s regular trips to Las Vegas. The sculptures at their favorite hotel were all replicas of classics — recognizable to them after their study of the humanities.

That small recognition helped them experience the broadening value of education.

“It’s opened up our eyes to new things,” said Gary. “We saw things in there we never would have noticed. We never would have thought about it.”

<strong>Benefits abound</strong>

The educational endeavor will also provide more serious benefits. Gary is eyeing an advanced degree at Governors State University. Lori said the classes will help her at her job as a practice manager for Riverside Neurology Group.

As for Gary’s son, Max, a tattoo artist who works on the beaches of Florida, the graduation will mean more pressure to start taking classes.

“I want to be supportive of tattoos and doing something different, too. But you need to learn the other parts if you want to run a business,” said Gary. “I’m not going to lay off until he goes.”