 Tsongas was born Nicola Dickson Sauvage on April 26 , 1946 , in Chico , California . Her mother Marian Susan ( née Wyman ) was an artist and copywriter , and her father Colonel Russell Elmer Sauvage was an engineer in the United States Army Air Forces who survived the attack on Pearl Harbor . Tsongas graduated in 1964 from Narimasu American High School in Japan while her father was stationed at Fuchu Air Force Base . Tsongas spent one year at Michigan State University , then transferred to Smith College in Northampton , Massachusetts , and graduated in 1968 with a Bachelor of Arts in religion . After college she moved to New York City , where she took a job as a social worker for the Department of Welfare . Tsongas earned her Juris Doctor from Boston University and started Lowell 's first all @-@ female law practice . 
