She was a pianist, a drama major, and much else, but it was her entry-level job as a bank teller that led Sandra J. McLaughlin Byers to the upper levels of what was then known as Mellon Bank, eventually becoming the company's spokesperson and vice president of corporate affairs.

Mrs. McLaughlin Byers died Tuesday following an illness. She was 72 and lived in Point Breeze.

When she graduated from Allegheny College in 1958, armed with a degree in drama -- even though she'd never intended to be an actress -- the careers available to women weren't as wide-ranging as they are today, said her stepdaughter, Cynthia Byers Castro.

"There probably weren't a lot of options back then," prior to the women's movement of the 1960s. A young woman with a college degree might have become a schoolteacher, and a woman without one might have been a typist, a waitress, a nurse, a librarian, a hairdresser -- or a bank teller.

"She worked her way up," running the bank's credit card division for a while, Ms. Byers Castro said, before moving into the senior VP slot. After 41 years at Mellon, the only company she ever worked for, she retired in 2000.

In 1987, Mrs. McLaughlin Byers was recognized as one of seven "Distinguished Daughters of Pennsylvania," an annual award dating to the 1940s conferred upon women "of outstanding accomplishments of statewide or national importance." She also served on numerous local boards, including the Senator John Heinz History Center and the board of trustees at Allegheny College.

Mrs. McLaughlin Byers was preceded in death by her husband, Lyle Byers. In addition to her stepdaughter, she is survived by six grandchildren.

Friends and family will be received today from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m., and tomorrow from 10 a.m. to noon, at John A. Freyvogel Sons Funeral Home, 4900 Centre Ave., in Oakland.