She attended public schools and completed three years of study at the University of Illinois before marrying her husband, Charles "Charlie" Didrickson, and raising three children.
She later completed a Bachelor of Arts degree, with a major in communications, at Governors State University.
Before being elected comptroller, Didrickson served for three years, under Governor Jim Edgar, as the Director of the Illinois Department of Employment Security.
She was strongly supported in this bid by Governor Edgar and former Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole.
[1] In a heated primary, however, she was defeated by a more conservative candidate, State Senator Peter Fitzgerald.