Charlotte Mary Toulouse

1948 - 2019

Charlotte Mary Toulouse



Charlotte Mary

Toulouse died on July 3, 2019 just one month shy of her 71st birthday. Charlotte was a practicing attorney in Albuquerque since 1973. She was born August 3rd, 1948 in Washington D.C to the late James and Charlotte

Toulouse where her father, an Albuquerque native, was attending law school at Georgetown University. She resided in Albuquerque since she was four months old. She graduated from Highland High School in 1966, received her undergraduate degree from the University of New Mexico in 1970 and entered Notre Dame Law School where she was only the second class of woman allowed into the law program. At the time there were no women undergraduate students at Notre Dame. She was one of 20 women in a class of 200. She graduated from Notre Dame in 1973, and after a clerkship with the late Honorable Donald P. Lay the Chief Judge on the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, she returned to Albuquerque where she was one of the first 100 woman admitted to the New Mexico Bar. She practiced law in her father's firm until his death in 2002. Over her 46 years as an attorney both in her father's firm and as a sole practitioner there are very few aspects of law she was not involved with. She was instrumental in many historical cases for the state, including the to help peacefully end the Fairchild Plant occupation by Navajo workers in 1975, the Santa Fe Prison Riot in 1980 and multiple arguments before the New Mexico Supreme court where she helped shape the future of medical malpractice law. For many years she was on the board of directors of Transitional Living Services, an agency who provides support for those with chronic mental illness. She was one of the first Hearing Officers for the New Mexico Division of Insurance's external review

board and at its inception she was a panel member on the New Mexico Medical

Review Commission. Over the

last ten years of her practice she became a sought after Guardian

ad Litem representing, supporting and caring for hundreds of children in contentious custody cases. Many of them on a pro bono basis. Charlotte was deeply passionate about the state of our world and was heavily involved in local politics serving multiple times as a state delegate for the Democratic Party. She was an avid football fan teaching her son, nephews, nieces, great nephews and great nieces the Notre Dame Fight Song well before they could even walk. Most of all she loved her family serving as a central figure in maintaining connections across a wide extended family who will miss her dearly. She was pre-deceased by her sister Laura Lee Megah and is survived by her partner Robert Secrest, her son Trent Toulouse, her sisters Carmie Lynn Toulouse, Leigh-Anne Toulouse and Samantha Schwack (Art), her nephews Jeremy (Jenny) Toulouse and James McAnally, nieces Tamaya Toulouse (Ivan Weiner), Kim Megah, and Brook Escapule (Tyler), and 9 grand nephews and nieces with many more beloved cousins, relatives, colleagues and friends. A memorial service will be held at the First Presbyterian Church, 215 Locust NE, on Sunday August 4th at 2 pm all are welcome. In lieu of flowers the family requests donations in Charlotte's name be made to Mandy's Special Farm, PO Box 9346, Albuquerque, NM 87119 an organization close to the heart of Charlotte and her family. Arrangements entrusted to Riverside Funeral Home. On behalf of my mother, continue to speak out on issues that need to change.