A Singing Journey

My name is Inez A. Lasso. I was born in 1937 in the South Bronx of NYC, the youngest of four children. My mother, a Singing Contest Winner in her youth, filled our lives with music, singing with the radio as she cared for us. She turned the poverty of the Bronx into a happy home for us and singing and songwriting into a lifelong passion for me. After graduation from Jamaica High School in 1954, I had my first job with the Chase Manhattan Bank in Times Square, as a stenographer. Then, I had the opportunity to join a religious organization, the "Young Christian Workers" as a Lay Missionary in Bogota, Colombia. I tell of the work I did to form new groups and of the young people I met who were enthusiastic about the movement and hoped to have a better life. I met my future husband in Colombia, and he came to New York where we got married on June 16, 1961. We lived in Jackson Heights, N.Y. and had 2 children, Elena and Diana. We then moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico as a better place to raise them. Our third daughter, Julie was born in Albuquerque. I always worked as a legal secretary and decided when I turned 40 yrs. old that I wanted to have a job that made a difference in the world - I wanted to be a Lawyer who fought for the rights of women who felt powerless. I enrolled in the University of Albuquerque and received my Bachelor of Business Administration; May 16, 1981. my Masters Certificate; from The Antioch School of Law for Equal Opportunity Law on February 15, 1983...and my Juris Doctor from the University of New Mexico on May 16, 1984. I divorced my first husband in 1985 after 22 years of marriage. I tell of my life as a Student and my life as an Attorney at Law and, in retirement, as an Administrative Hearing Officer, A/KA The Judge. I tell of my Second Life with New Husband after I moved to D.C. to work as a lawyer with the Dept. of Labor. He is a blind bluegrass musician and I was able to join him as a harmony singer in his band in weekend gigs. We were marr