Louise Raggio (June 15, 1919 – January 23, 2011) was a

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

lawyer for more than fifty years. She was the first female prosecutor in Dallas County, Texas. She spearheaded a coalition to establish the Marital Property Act of 1967 (which went into effect on January 1, 1968🖉), and the Texas Family Code.

Early life

Louise Hilma Ballerstedt was born into a German immigrant family on June 15, 1919 at her grandmother's home in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

. She attended the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, where she earned her

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

summa cum laude in 1939. She married Grier Raggio, who was then a government lawyer, in 1941. During her years of raising three sons she attended

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = "The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , ...

at night earning her law degree by 1952.

Career

Louise Raggio found a job working as an assistant district attorney in

Dallas County Dallas County may refer to: Places in the USA: * Dallas County, Alabama, founded in 1818, the first county in the United States by that name * Dallas County, Arkansas * Dallas County, Iowa * Dallas County, Missouri * Dallas County, Texas, the nin ...

in 1954 and was put in charge of child support, delinquent fathers, juvenile court and family law. While working as a prosecutor, she learned that married women had fewer rights in Texas than single women, i.e. married women in Texas had limited property rights and couldn't take out bank loans or start their own businesses without their husband's approval. One of her quotes in the KERA Texas TrailerBlazer about her sums up the situation of a woman at the altar in Texas: "When a man and woman got married, they were one, and he was the one." Louise Raggio began to fight for the rights of women and became the first female prosecutor in Dallas County, Texas.

Death

Louise Raggio died on January 23, 2011.

Notes

References

* "Texas Tornado" The Life of a Crusader for Women's Rights and Family Justice", by Louise Ballerstedt Raggio and Vivian Anderson Castleberry, Kensington Publishing Corp, New York City: 2003;

External links

Official website

Texas Women Lawyers website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raggio, Louise 1919 births 2011 deaths 20th-century American women lawyers American prosecutors People from Austin, Texas People from Dallas Place of death missing Southern Methodist University alumni University of Texas at Austin alumni Texas lawyers 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American women