Della Richardson ’89 supports University of the Pacific because of the important gift Pacific first gave her.

“The main thing I got from my college education was confidence—confidence that no matter what happened to me, I could make it through. I could do anything. That’s something money can’t buy,” she said. 

Richardson earned her bachelor’s degree at Pacific when she was 46 years old. This winter, she made a gift honoring the professor who helped her find that confidence.  

The Dr. Carol Ann Hackley Experiential Learning Endowment provides internships and other practical opportunities for students pursuing public relations or communications careers. The endowment was established by Hackley’s family, and Richardson was delighted to contribute.

When she arrived at Pacific in 1986, Richardson already knew she had a passion for PR-type work. Hackley’s classes gave that passion a name and a direction.

“At first, I didn’t know what I wanted to major in,” she recalled. “But when I took my first class with Carol Ann, it was like a bell went off in my head and I thought, ‘I know what God put me in this world to do.’ And Carol Ann was such a wonderful, encouraging person. She was called ‘Dr. Mom’ by her students because she was like everybody’s mother.”

Richardson cherished Hackley’s encouragement at a time when she craved a sense of belonging on a university campus. Her journey to college began decades earlier, as a high school student moving from place to place with her family. The daughter of migrant farmworkers, she moved 12 times, attending high schools in four states, and still graduated. 

Without the means to attend college, she continued picking fruit. Eventually she married a migrant farmworker and settled in Lodi to raise their only son. 

Richardson later landed a cashier’s job in Stockton and was offered a raise if she took an accounting class at San Joaquin Delta College. For 14 years she took one class at a time, garnering more raises and eventually earning an associate’s degree with honors. She knew that a bachelor’s degree could take her even further. 

When she finally arrived at Pacific, Richardson was thrilled. Being in her 40s, she also felt a distinct sense of imposter syndrome.

“I walked around the first two years thinking somebody was going to come tap me on the shoulder and say, ‘We finally figured out you don’t belong here, you’re going to have to leave.’ But they didn’t--and it was the best investment I ever made,” she recalled.

Richardson studied tirelessly and worked multiple jobs to afford her Pacific education. One employer, a wine merchant, allowed her to bring her textbooks and study between customers. She did well academically, was selected to join the Mortar Board National College Honor Society and enjoyed the camaraderie of other adult students throughout her three years on campus.

Richardson’s Pacific story didn’t end when she graduated. She returned to Pacific years later as the university’s adult student coordinator, recruiting and advising students along the same journey she had taken. 

“I wanted them to succeed. It was so important to me,” she said. “For years I worked selling tangible things; education is intangible, but it’s the same thing. I talked with people who wanted to complete the adult re-entry program. I could make them believe that they could do it, and then I could help them do it.”

Richardson became active in her community and in local politics, but never ventured far from Pacific. She served as the first chair of Pacific’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), which offers classes and activities designed for adults 50 and older. For six years she organized the program at Stockton’s O’Connor Woods retirement community, her home since 2014. 

Richardson remains deeply grateful for Pacific’s many gifts to her. Along with honoring Dr. Hackley, she has remembered the university in her will. A portion of her estate will endow a scholarship for adult re-entry students, whom she hopes will gain the same confidence she did.

“I always knew that no matter what happened to me, I could make it, because I had a degree from Pacific,” she said. “And now, I can make nice gifts to the university—because of the confidence it gave me.”