Two weeks after graduating from Turtle Creek High School in June of 1968, Gerry McLaughlin began her career at Bell of Pennsylvania in Turtle Creek. After holding a variety of vocational positions, she entered the Bell Atlantic Management Trainee Program in 1982. On completion, she was promoted to her first supervisory role and over the years advanced to serve in numerous management positions until she retired in 2002.
After her first few weeks at Bell, she learned about the Telecom Pioneers of America, a fraternal and volunteer service organization founded in 1930 by, among others, Alexander Graham Bell (Membership card No. 1). She expressed an interest in joining Pioneers but learned that one had to have been employed by Bell System for twenty-one years before becoming eligible for membership. That stipulation was eventually reduced and in 1982 she was eligible and became a “Pioneer” member of the Ft. Pitt Chapter, Stephen Foster Council. Over the next forty years she volunteered to meet the “call of the needy” and served in various leadership positions to advance Council and chapter initiatives and the Pioneer mission. She was the last serving president of the chapter in 2021.
Gerry imbued in her children and grandchildren the value and obligation of giving back to those in need. This fund is established in her honor by her husband and “Pioneer Partner”, John, and her children, Lauren and John, to perpetuate her passion for helping others. Grants from the fund will be used to support educational and charitable initiatives. Her children, grandchildren and friends will continue in the advisor position to provide perpetuity direction to carry on her legacy of service to others.