Thursday, February 16, 2006

Another inspiring lawyer's life

Read this story about a blind lawyer from New Mexico who died the other day at age 93.

It says in part:

"Santa Fe lawyer Albert T. Gonzales, who championed the poor and dispossessed during a career that spanned more than six decades, died Saturday of heart failure at his Don Gaspar Avenue home. He was 93.

Gonzales lost his eyesight after a diving accident at the age of 17. He became the first blind person to receive a Bachelor of Arts from The University of New Mexico, and the first to earn a law degree from Georgetown University . He also was the first blind person licensed to practice law in New Mexico. . . .

When Gonzales retired, he estimated that he had helped 8,000 clients in family law and about 3,000 bankruptcy clients.

Many of those clients were unable to pay their attorney, but they were able to make arrangements with Gonzales. 'Sometimes we would get bags of chile or potatoes from the poor people who lived on the farms of Northern New Mexico,' daughter Virginia Gonzales-Moench said.

'He was a one-man Legal Aid Society,' Donnelly said. 'He represented a lot of poor and indigent people. I used to see him in court every week representing someone who was quite poor. He was a very active lawyer you have to take your hat off to.' . . . ."

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