Angela Lujan Ogle, who gave up her law practice to help victims of domestic abuse, died in her sleep April 9 of a massive heart attack. She was 55.
A memorial service is planned at 3 p.m. Friday at Crist Mortuary Chapel in Boulder.
In the 1980s, Ogle worked in the Colorado attorney general’s office representing the Colorado Civil Rights Commission.
She left her law practice in 1992, husband Scott Ogle said, in order to work on social justice issues in the Latino community and use her legal background on issues including immigrant rights, health care and gender equality.
“She felt that Hispanics had to fight like crazy for their rights in a mostly Anglo community,” Ogle said.
Fluent in Spanish, she worked with Moving to End Sexual Assault — MESA — where she established a Spanish-language hotline for victims of sexual assault and developed MESA’s outreach to the Latino community.
Her work “was very much needed,” said Janine D’Anniballe, executive director of the Boulder-based MESA.
“When people aren’t familiar with English, they don’t know where to go for help” in domestic violence situations, she said.
Ogle “embedded herself in the community,” D’Anniballe said.
Ogle would go to events and set up information booths and would work through health clinics used by people of color, D’Anniballe said.
She was “full of energy and life,” D’Anniballe said. She “saw the positive in people. She realized there were some people she wouldn’t be able to help, so she focused on those she could help.”
Ogle was a founding member of Latinos United for Political Engagement and was on the University of Colorado’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Diversity.
In her spare time, Ogle liked to make small sculptures out of scrap metal.
She often surprised friends with gifts, D’Anniballe said.
Every so often a small wind-up dinosaur toy would appear on D’Anniballe’s desk, and she always knew it was from Ogle.
Angela Marie Lujan was born in Española, N.M., on Dec. 29, 1952, graduated from high school in Los Alamos, N.M., and earned her bachelor’s and law degrees at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
While working on her undergraduate degree, she spent a year studying economics and language in Peru.
She met Scott Ogle during a game of bridge, and they married Sept. 11, 1976.
In addition to her husband, she is survived by her parents, Tobias and Virginia Lujan of Santa Fe, and her sister, Marcy Lujan of Littleton.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
