A single high school graduation gown has been passed from family to family for more than 20 years

Reporter/Multimedia Journalist

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa —

Every graduation gown tells a story.

For high school graduate Carter Nunn, his gown came with more than two decades of history already stitched into it.

The blue graduation gown he wore on Sunday has been passed from family to family since 2003. Over the years, it has been worn by seven Marshalltown graduates from three different families, all connected through the Marshalltown Community School District in Marshalltown, Iowa.

For many graduates, a cap and gown represent years of hard work, friendships and memories. For Nunn, it also represented a tradition larger than himself.

“I just can’t really put it into words,” Nunn said after the ceremony.

Nunn’s family is the third to receive the gown. Like the two families before them, the Nunns are an educator family with three sons.

“We’re the third family to have this gown, and it’s been passed down in Marshalltown amongst educator families that have three boys,” said Nunn’s mother, Mandi, who is an elementary school teacher.

The tradition began with another Marshalltown teacher’s family in 2003. After all three of her sons graduated wearing the gown, it was passed to Amy Williams, a Marshalltown principal with three boys.

Williams’ sons wore the same gown when they graduated in 2016, 2021 and 2022.

“Once my three boys used that, I thought, ‘Wow, we’ve now had two families with three boys. Why don’t we keep that tradition going?'” Williams said.

After her youngest son graduated, Williams passed the gown to the Nunn family, where it sat for four years until Carter’s graduation day.

Along with the cap and gown came a box documenting its journey. Each graduate who wears it signs the box before passing it on to the next family.

After Sunday’s ceremony, Nunn added his name to the list.

“It’s cool to be a part of this tradition,” he said. “And I just can’t wait to hand it down to my brothers and then see who gets it next.”

The tradition is far from over.

Nunn is the oldest of three brothers, meaning the gown will be worn by at least two more times before it leaves the family’s hands.

“I hope that they see their brother as a role model,” Mandi Nunn said. “Seeing him in it and being able to wear that and feel that nostalgia, that they’re wearing something that these seven men, as well as other Bobcats, wore, is pretty cool.”

As graduates crossed the stage Sunday, the blue gown blended in with hundreds of others.

But for the families who have shared it for more than 20 years, it’s become much more than a graduation costume. It’s a piece of Marshalltown history.