Beatrice Challiss Laws

August 2, 1927 – March 10, 2020

Beatrice Challiss Laws died on March 10, 2020, at home with her sons James Challiss Laws and John Muir Laws. Beatsie was a loving wife, mother, and grandmother who gave to her family and community with passion, patience, wisdom, and strength. She was born on August 2, 1927, in Los Angeles California, the daughter of John Van Hoesen Challiss and Beatrice Ward Challiss. Growing up with her sister Catharine, she attended Los Angeles High School, spending her summers as a camp counselor. She developed a love of the outdoors: flyfishing, horseback riding, backpacking, and studying botany and astronomy.

She attended the University of California at Berkeley and subsequently Stanford Law School, and in 1952 was one of the first female graduates. In 1953, she was admitted to the California Bar and clerked for Chief Justice Phil Gibson of the California Supreme Court. It was there that she met Robert Henry Laws Jr. They fell in love on a camping trip in the Sierra Nevada, and were married in 1962 and settled permanently in San Francisco. They supported each other steadfastly through both hard and happy times, raising two sons and spending many summers exploring the Sierra.

Beatrice lived a life of service. Following her work at the California Supreme Court, she was a deputy city attorney in San Francisco. She later worked as an attorney at the Sierra Club, protecting wildlands throughout the United States. Locally, in San Francisco, she was instrumental in the effort to save Tank Hill, now a protected natural area. Similarly, she helped defeat speculative development near Mount Sutro. In the 1980’s she served the City of San Francisco as a commissioner for the Juvenile Court.

Toward the end of her life, she faced multiple medical challenges with cheerfulness, courage, and grace. Known and respected in the neighborhood and community, her home became a hub where people came to share in her friendship kindness and wisdom.