Norman Workman ’87 is no stranger to challenges. After losing both of his parents by age 16 and becoming guardian to his seven siblings, he was left to figure out his education on his own.
“I didn’t have good encouragement,” he says. “I didn’t have a good mentor.”
What he had was a lot of responsibility. After attending high school all day, he would return home to prepare dinner for the family and look after his siblings before turning his attention to his own homework.
A promising start
After turning down a diving scholarship to a prestigious university, Workman began attending college not far from his hometown of Boston. He was thriving, living in his fraternity house and earning good money from his job operating a forklift.
That all changed abruptly thanks to the start of a recession. Soon, his world looked a lot different. He lost his job and quickly ran out of money. He sold his car to get by but struggled to find work.
“I was trying to get a job, but I had too much college, so they wouldn’t hire me,” he says.
At a loss, he discussed his troubles with a friend of his who had joined the U.S. Air Force who told him, “Norm, I only had one parent and you don’t have any. Why don’t you think about the military?”
Inspired, he joined the U.S. Army with a plan to use the GI Bill to continue his education.
“I went to combat medic school and I became a surgical technician,” he explains.
A tragic turn of events
Life was good for Workman, who fell in love and got married. His wife was transferred to Walter Reed Medical Center, and Workman enrolled at UMGC to complete his college degree. When he learned his wife was expecting a baby, though, he realized he needed to prioritize work to prepare to meet the needs of his growing family.
He completed his coursework and final exam at the end of one week, and by the following Tuesday, he had secured a full-time job and a part-time one, and he quit school.
Once again, though, tragedy came into Workman’s life when his wife was murdered. His world was turned upside down in a moment. He spent the next nine months moving and securing a new job while dealing with his grief and the homicide investigation and judicial proceedings.
“About nine months after my wife’s murder, I had my life back together again enough that I knew I had five years left on my GI Bill,” he recalls.
Now a single parent with limited support, he had to juggle his family responsibilities with school and the murder trial. Although he had the GI Bill and used every type of financial aid he could find, the financial burden took a toll. At one point his phone was disconnected, and he was on the brink of losing his electricity because he couldn’t keep up with the bills.
A beacon of hope
Amid his grief and financial struggles, a friend showed up to check on Workman.
“When he couldn’t get a hold of me, he flew down from New England,” he says. “Bought some groceries, got some new shoes for my daughter who was coming out of her shoes, turned on my phone, paid my light bills and left me with a hundred bucks.”
This act of kindness and generosity helped Workman get back on his feet. He continued with his studies and began to focus on helping others through victims’ rights advocacy. His professional life blossomed, too, leading him to high-profile roles and international destinations.
“I wound up with an unbelievable career just by being in the right place at the right time and because I had the degree from UMGC in my back pocket,” he says.
Paying it forward
Workman knows there are other veterans like his younger self who are struggling to make ends meet after exhausting their GI Bill benefits, and he’s grateful to be in a position now to help them. To do this, he made an estate gift to UMGC through the Ehrensberger Legacy Society so he can express his appreciation for the significant impact UMGC has had on his life and help future students achieve their own education goals.
“Long after my death, there will be a veteran or a military spouse or one of their children who receive a scholarship to help them and take the sting out of the cost of trying to work and raise a family and go to school at the same time,” he says.
Learn more about the Ehrensberger Legacy Society.