Celebrating Susan Law

We are sad to announce the passing of Susan Law, who was the heart of TRLA. She passed away Friday, July 30, 2021 at her home in Pharr in the presence of her friends and family. 

Susan’s work and volunteerism in social justice advocacy spanned decades. Susan came to the Rio Grande Valley from California as a Church of the Brethren volunteer in 1967 to work in the colonias with Ed Krueger after Hurricane Beulah. Susan’s primary interest was in farm worker unionizing. In 1969 she began volunteering with Antonio and Raquel Orendain (UFW and later TFW). In 1973 she worked for the ACLU Foundation. After that, she began working for TRLA in 1975 and continued until her retirement 2017. 

Susan was considered by many as TRLA’s first employee. She served as the Human Resources Director but was also known as the “fixer for all things TRLA.” She was known for her unwavering kindness, and calm, skilled ability to navigate difficult situations. Susan treated everyone with respect and did her job with superior competence, grace, kindness, toughness, and self-assurance. The organization would not be what it is today without Susan’s steadfast loyalty and commitment to wield the law as a tool unsparingly for social justice. 

Susan was committed to countless other causes for social justice—in the 1970s, she was a part of the group who created Hidalgo County’s first domestic violence shelter, Women Together/Mujeres Unidas. She was a member of the board from 1976-1985, and president 1981-1985. Susan was a HOST tutor at Donna middle and junior high schools in the 1990s and a Board member for Hidalgo County Planned Parenthood, 1981-82. The Frontera Women’s Fund established the Susan Law Fund for Women and Girls in 2005. 

Susan’s TRLA family proudly observed her use her retirement to organize with like-minded women including her close friend and TRLA colleague Jennifer Harbury to form Angry Tías and Abuelas of the RGV to support the hundreds of asylum seekers and refugees left in limbo along the border in the Rio Grande Valley. Susan frequently spent 16-hour days at the McAllen bus station from June 2018 through July 2019, when ICE and CBP would often drop off between 200 to 900 asylum seekers each day. Susan helped corral an ever-changing assortment of volunteers at the bus station each day, preparing non-English speakers to make their long bus journeys across the US to their varied destinations. Angry Tías and Abuelas of the RGV received the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award in 2019. Susan was active in these ongoing efforts despite the pandemic and her illness. 

Susan was never one to abandon a task or go back on a commitment. She was reliable and relentless. She was one of a kind and an exceptional human being. We will miss her.