Donna Cummings: The Original Working Mom, Software Engineer, and Entrepreneur
Donna with her husband of 50 years, Ron Cummings
There are a number of women in my life who have retired, but had fascinating careers. I think it’s important to celebrate the work that they did and continue to do. They are, in fact, the wisest women!
I’m starting with my mother-in-law, Donna Cummings. I’ve known Donna for 18 years (OMG!) and when I met her she was working at a tax software company as a trainer in their customer service department. Chad mentioned that she had previously worked as a computer programmer and then ran a daycare out of their home, but I never knew the details and I decided it was time to find out more.
The Start of Her Career - Computer Programmer (aka Software Engineer)
Donna (in the clown costume) with her co-workers at Pratt & Lambert
When Donna graduated from High School she decided to continue her education with a fast-track nine month program that focused on computers, which were very new in the 1970s.
“I went to a technical college computer programming school because I thought I’d make good money.”
After she graduated from the program, she got her first job at Pratt & Lambert, which is now Sherwin-Williams (yes, the paint store we all know and love today), in Andover, Kansas.
“I started as a key punch operator, which is like data entry and kind of worked my way up. Eventually I was the computer programmer there.”
I think it’s important to point out that the title “computer programmer” is very 1970s and if we were to modernize it, she would have been called a “software engineer!” My mother-in-law was a software engineer in the ‘70s and 80s’! Very impressive!
Donna worked there from 1975 to 1987 and while she was there she worked on billing and inventory for the local store.
Motherhood
In 1980, Donna had her first son Chad (my husband), and in 1982 she had her second son, Shelby. With both of them she went back to work after only six weeks off for maternity leave.
“Back then you got six weeks off and that was it. I took advantage of the whole six weeks and It was very very hard to go back. My Saving Grace was Rita, my mother-in-law, who babysat. It was their grandma and I knew they were going to be well taken care of so that helped tremendously.”
She recalls that mornings and getting everyone out of the house were some of the hardest moments.
“The mornings were a nightmare. Ron had really early hours, so he wasn’t there. I just remember being worn out. The mornings were hard.”
Then after 12 years at her job and seven years into parenting, Donna decided to leave her company and take some time off over the summer.
“I always felt like I was being very underpaid, which even my boss told me that, yet wouldn't do anything. So I thought, ‘I'm just gonna take the summer off to be with the kids.’ I always had a guilty feeling of not spending enough time with them. Then I would start looking for a job that pays better.”
But then Donna got a big surprise! She found out she was pregnant with her third son, Kyle.
She also had an old co-worker who was having a baby in August and asked Donna if she would be interested in watching her baby after her maternity leave. She had her first client and decided it was time to start her home daycare.
“It gave me the opportunity to stay home and that was a big deal to me so it worked out.”
Donna’s Daycare (aka Donna’s Entrepreneurship Era)
When Kyle was born in January of 1988, Donna had already been watching her co-worker’s baby and from there her new business grew organically, unexpectedly.
“When I first started the daycare I was only going to do it until Kyle was a year old. and then start pursuing my programming again, but that turned into 11 years.”
Donna had a couple of other families’ kids that she cared for who she met through acquaintances.
“The daycare, that was great. It's like these kids were just part of the family and it gave me a chance to fulfill my staying at home need. Kyle got to stay home. We usually had a day where we could go to breakfast at McDonald's. He loved to go.”
In 1999 Donna’s oldest son, Chad, was off to college, her middle son Shelby was close to graduating from high school, and her youngest son, Kyle was 11 years old. She decided it was time to close the daycare and re-enter the traditional workforce.
Back to the Office
When Donna re-entered the workforce she started back in data entry.
“I'd lost all my confidence. There was no way I could go back to programming because so much had changed. And at that time I just didn't really think I wanted to.”
She took a few temporary and short-term jobs until she landed at a tax software company.
“I did the monitoring of the customer service phone calls. Then I ended up having to do training. The monitoring was new to them. So before they just weren't monitored. So it was a whole new ball game for all these employees, so I had to do one-on-one trainings with them. We'd listen to their calls. I’d mentor them on how to bring their scores up.”
“Then I had to do classroom trainings which were way out of my comfort zone. It was never easy for me, but it got less terrifying for me as it went on. I’m glad I did it because it gave me a new confidence level.”
Donna was there from 2006 to 2014 when the company dissolved her department. She was off about a year before she got her last corporate job in 2015.
“Corporate Lodging was kind of a middleman between a business and a hotel. By the end I had several hats I was wearing. I was in the mail room a little bit, answering emails for a credit card department. I liked the big variety of stuff rather than just sitting at my desk doing one thing all day long.”
Retirement
In 2021 Donna retired from Corporate Lodging.
“I love being retired. I don’t miss working. I really thought I would do volunteer work, but I’m not even to the point yet where I want to do that. I have been very busy, somehow. Everybody says once you retire things get busier, and somehow they do. I love being available to babysit grandkids and pick up whenever for trips.”
Right after Donna retired she had a friend that moved to Las Vegas and she helped her move out there and eventually move back.
“If I was working, I wouldn’t have been able to do that because of limited vacation time.”
Donna also loves spending time with her five grandchildren Aria, Calvin, Charlotte, Dylan, and Kollin.
“I absolutely love going to any of their events.”
Advice for Women
On Working and Being a Mom
“Be patient and pick your battles. Prioritize what’s important to you. As you get older your priorities change. I wish I wouldn’t have worried about the house so much with the kids. It’s different with the grandkids. With them, the dishes can wait and I wish it were more like that with my kids.”
This interview was a really special one for me. Donna is a phenomenal mother, grandmother, and mother-in-law. She wears her heart on her sleeve. She’s always there for the people she loves and she’s one of the kindest people you will ever meet. I appreciate her more than she knows and I’m so glad she decided to share her story with me, so I can now share it with you.
