the
mentorship Lorna Harron is having an impact
factor
By Mifi Purvis
on female engineers and future engineers through organization and mentorship
L
orna Harron was always close to her grandfather, William Armstrong. Still, when he died in 1990, she learned a few new things about him. And even after his death, Armstrong continued to inspire her. “At his funeral in Belfast, Northern Ireland, I met a fellow who talked about how my grandfather helped him out during the Second World War,” says Harron (Metallurgical ’95). “There was strict rationing of food, jobs were scarce, and this fellow had a young family to feed. He was 30 U OF A ENGINEER FALL 2014
Demetri Giannitsios
desperate and considering suicide.” Luckily the man met Armstrong, who offered him a day of work on his farm—and paid him a week’s wages. She heard similar stories from others about how encouraging and helpful Armstrong was to those who really needed it. She’s recalling the event from her Enbridge office in downtown Edmonton, sun streaming in the window, catching on mementoes and photos of her other great interests—showing Bernese mountain dogs and Arabian/Anglo-Arabian/half-Arabian
Lorna Harron (Metallurgical ’95) meets with just a few of the members of Feminen (females in engineering) working at the Edmonton Enbridge office.
horses. “I came away from his funeral with a strong understanding that it’s not just the things you accomplish that matter,” Harron says—a trace of a Belfast childhood still detectable in her speech, “but rather it is how you do those things that make an impact on the world.”