Cuesta Mom and Daughter Grads Tell Story

The annual Women’s Legacy Fund luncheon featured moving speeches about the necessity of community colleges from two recent Cuesta grads – who also happen to be mother and daughter.

Debbie Tillson, a digital photography assistant at CC and current Cal Poly student, and her mom, Sandye Tillson, a General Studies grad and now a mentor at Atascadero High School, talked about how Cuesta has given their lives an extraordinary jump start. “When I was nine years old and living in Redondo Beach, my dad died suddenly in a plane crash,” says Debbie Tillson.  “It was a big deal, all over the news, and while I don’t blame my mother, our entire family went into a tailspin. I was left to making my own decisions, which, for me, meant no homework.  My grades plummeted, I was in remedial math, and no counselor, no teacher, knew what to do. 

“I knew I was capable of so much more, but the grief completely took over my life.”

At 15, Debbie, her two other siblings and Sandye relocated to the Central Coast for a fresh start. Yet the teen remained unsettled, leaving high school and then working odd jobs for a decade.  “I always knew I needed to go to college, I just didn’t know how.”  Then Tillson decided to try one class – ironically, a math course – at Cuesta.  “I worked with my instructor, I got tutoring and I did well.”  The next semester, Tillson went full-time and eventually graduated with twin AA degrees in May of 2003.  She hopes to obtain her doctorate in psychology, then using that expertise to work with children who have also suffered traumatic losses. 

Sandye Tillson spoke about her teen marriage and how she was completely unprepared for life as a widow – both from an emotional and business standpoint.  After her daughter began attending Cuesta, she wondered if she should also enroll at CC. “I told Mom that the worst thing that could happen is that she wouldn’t like it and could quit,” says Debbie Tillson. “The best thing is that she could graduate.  At the luncheon, she wanted to encourage women of any age to go back to school.”

The gathering took place on September 9 at the Atascadero Lake Pavilion, with some 200 attendees.  The Women’s Legacy Fund is under the umbrella of the SLO County Community Foundation, a nonprofit grant-making organization that establishes various endowments in the area.  For more information about the Community Foundation, or how to join, contact its San Luis Obispo office at 543-2323.