Tom Udall: “I wish to pay tribute to the late Las Cruces City councilor Olga Pedroza, a champion for justice. Ms. Pedroza passed…”

“I wish to pay tribute to the late Las Cruces City councilor Olga Pedroza, a champion for justice. Ms. Pedroza passed away February 9, 2018, in Las Cruces, NM. Ms. Pedroza was born in a small town in Mexico, San Luis Ayucan, on September 28, 1942. Her parents Celia and Jesus came to Chicago in the 1940s, where she attended Catholic school for elementary through high school. She graduated from Mundelein College in 1963 with a bachelor's degree in sociology and minors in elementary education and theology. Ms. Pedroza then set off and worked on behalf of her community the rest of her life. She worked as a teacher for many years and, in 1980, moved to New Mexico with her then-husband and three children. By then, she had earned a master's in education. Ms. Pedroza decided she wanted to use the law to promote her social justice goals. She entered the University of New Mexico Law School and graduated in 1985, in her early 40s. Ms. Pedroza began working for Centro Legal Campesino, the legal aid farmer worker unit, in Las Cruces in 1990. She was there over 15 years, primarily as the managing attorney. During that time, she filed over 50 Federal lawsuits representing farmworkers in their fight for fair wages and other rights. Ms. Pedroza began her third career in 2009 when she was elected to the Las Cruces City Council District 3 seat, which covers central and southeast Las Cruces. Ms.…”