The year was 1983. Laid off from Texas Instruments and newly separated from her husband, Pam Mulhall, a 30-year-old mother of four, was forced to seek help from the welfare office in Lubbock, Texas.
She let them know that instead of a handout, she would appreciate the chance to get a degree in electronic technology. But to receive assistance, she was told, she couldn’t be working or going to school.
“I told them, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me. With that requirement, I’ll be a burden on your system the rest of my life,’ ” she says.
Ms. Mulhall escaped that fate, with help from her mother, who paid for her schooling and took her family in for two years. Now, three decades later, after a career in semiconductor manufacturing that allowed her to support her family, buy a house and save for retirement, Ms. Mulhall feels it is her duty to help women less fortunate than she was.
By
Julie Halpert