But after a surprise phone call earlier this week, the West Wollongong grandmother eagerly returned to St Mary Star of the Sea College yesterday to receive a prized certificate she believed had been lost forever.

Mrs Eshman (nee Ryan) was presented with her Intermediate Certificate, the equivalent of today's Year 10 school certificate - a document she had been unable to collect more than 60 years ago.

Mrs Eshman was forced to leave school and take up an office job at the age of 15 after her father's death.

An inflexible employer had prevented her from picking up her certificate.

As life hurtled ahead and priorities changed, Mrs Eshman's certificate was all but forgotten, filed away in the school's immense archives.

But she had not counted on the tenacity of her granddaughter, Eloise Eshman, a Year 12 student at St Mary's.

Eloise promised her beloved grandmother she would track down the document.

"I'd kind of forgotten about it because it was a bit of a joke at the time. I didn't really think it would ever surface," Mrs Eshman said.

But extension work at the school had necessitated a clean-out of the archives and, with Eloise's help, the certificate was found.

Yesterday, an elated Mrs Eshman was thrilled to finally be presented with her hard-earned document by school principal Frank Pitt.

"When you work hard for years and then leave school with nothing, it's a bit disappointing," she said.

"I didn't realise just how much it meant to me.

"I'm really happy to finally be getting it."

Mr Pitt said Mrs Eshman was welcome to advance to Year 11, but she was unsure if she would take up the offer.