| I received an email from the Coakley campaign earlier today noting women who have broken bariers in the military and public life announcing their endorsements of Martha Coakley. It is an impressive list of Massachusetts and national women leaders.
However, there was an endorsement Friday night from another woman who broke a barrier that means even more to me.
In 1970, Deb Gilcoine, a 17 year old single Mom, became the first woman apprentice in the Painters Union in New England. Deb went to work as an apprentice bridge painter - one of the toughest and most dangerous (and therefore the best-paying hourly rate) job in the Union. She broke the barrier not only as a painter in a male dominated construction industry - but as a bridge painter in the most macho part of the industry.
Deb's story was featured in "We'll Call You When We Need You" a book that told the stories of women breaking the barriers in the construction industry. Today, Deb Gilcoine is a part-time Instructor in the same apprentice program she joined in 1970 and she is a painting supervisor on the MBTA.
Friday night at the Elks Club in Quincy, Deb Gilcoine (who broke a barrier in 1970) stood with Martha Coakley and offered her support as Martha works to break a barrier in 2009 as the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts.
I have never been prouder of my Union, of the courage of Deb Gilcoine as a union member and of supporting a candidate like Martha Coakley.
From the Coakley for U.S. Senate campaign email:
Martha Coakley today announced the endorsements of prominent women who have been trailblazers in the fields of governance and political activism.
Endorsing Coakley for United States Senate are: Lieutenant General Claudia Kennedy (retired), the first woman to reach the rank of three-star General in the United States Army; Mary Beth Cahill, a former Chief of Staff to Senator Ted Kennedy, campaign manager to Senator John Kerry's Presidential campaign and former Executive Director of EMILY's List; Ann Lewis, senior advisor to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's Presidential campaign and White House Communications Director during President Bill Clinton's second term; and Evelyn Murphy, former Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts and the state's first female statewide officeholder.
http://marthacoakley.com/news/... |
