Psychologist Dr. Larry J. Nulton, a 1981 graduate of Tyrone Area High School, will deliver the principle commencement address to approximately 140 young adults at Tyrone High’s 124th graduation ceremony, at 7 p.m. on Friday, June 13, in the Tyrone High Auditorium.
His nephew Ethan Nulton, a 2008 Tyrone Honors graduate, will introduce his uncle on that evening. Ethan Nulton will emphasize Dr. Nulton’s professional expertise, community service, extensive education, and focus on family in his introductory remarks.
Dr. Larry Nulton is the creator, owner, and director of the Nulton Diagnostic Treatment Center which he founded in Johnstown in 1995. Through his profession as a clinical psychologist, Dr. Nulton has helped both young people and adults “raise themselves up,” through the psychological and psychiatric services he provides to his clients at his six office locations in Blair, Bedford, and Somerset counties. Together, these six clinical psychology offices employ approximately 300 people.
During his nearly 15 years as a clinical psychologist in the Johnstown area, Dr. Nulton has provided an enviable example of community service. He has developed a non-profit tutoring service for children in need. Also, he has involved himself heavily in the Goodwill Organization, which provides job opportunities for mentally challenged people.
After his days at Tyrone Area High School in the early eighties, Dr. Nulton received psychology degrees at three different institutions of higher education. He received his Bachelors Degree in psychology from Penn State University. After graduating from Penn State, he journeyed to the Philadelphia area to earn his Masters Degree at West Chester University. Ultimately, Nulton received his Doctorate in Psychology from Bowling Green University in Ohio. Finished with his academic studies at Bowling Green, Dr. Nulton completed his residency in clinical psychology at Geisinger Medical Center in nearby Danville, Pennsylvania.
Even amidst all of his professional accomplishments, Dr. Nulton never has forgotten his Tyrone ties and focus on family, the youngest son of Charles and JoAnn Nulton of Sunset Hills, Dr. Nulton’s oldest brother Robert, resides with his family in Texas, his other brother Timothy lives in Tyrone and serves as manager of Tyrone’s sewage treatment facility. At the present time, Dr. Nulton resides in Johnstown, and is married to Psychologist Dr. Lorraine Napora-Nulton. Together, the couple has two sons named Corbin and Cameron.
In days gone by, the Golden Eagle Tyrone Yearkbook Of 1981 christened Dr. Nulton with the nickname of “Peany.” His high school yearbook also reported that as a teenager, Nulton was enrolled in machine shop, played football, and enjoyed hunting and skiing. According to The Golden Eagle Memory Book, as a Tyrone High Senior in 1981, Nulton hoped to graduate from college, get married, and eventually own a farm.
Tyrone senior Michael Moore will start the school’s 124th commencement ceremony with the opening prayer on the evening of June 13. Dudley McNitt will lead the audience in the Pledge To The American Flag. Class Salutatorian Alexis Murray will offer a welcome and graduation reflections. Ethan Nulton will introduce his uncle Dr. Larry Nulton as principle commencement speaker. Class Valedictorian Sarah Halter will deliver the farewell address. Finally, Tyrone Senior Brock Anders will present the benediction or closing prayer, followed by the class recessional.
Looking back across the 26 years since his graduation from Tyrone High in 1981, Dr. Nulton will offer the Tyrone Class of 2008 his insights about finding fulfillment in life, as these 140 students prepare to depart Tyrone High, and begin their journey into the world of the 21st Century.
As the 140 students in Tyrone’s Class Of 2008 prepare for their June 13 commencement, they expect that Dr. Nulton’s ten minute talk will inspire them with strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow even as singer Josh Groban expressed in this 2003 song: “When I am down, and oh, my soul’s so weary / When troubles come, and my heart burdened be /Then I am still, and wait here in the silence / Until you come, and talk awhile with me / You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains / You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas / I am strong, when I am on your shoulders / You raise me up, to more than I can be.”
