Betty & Tom Law, Jr with sons, Steve, Charles, Dick, & Tom III. Photo taken in Houston in February 1980
Tom and Betty Law
Tom and Betty were both born in Texas in 1928. Tom was raised in Bryan, Texas and attended First Baptist Church in that city. Betty was raised by her grandparents following her mother’s death when Betty was just seven (her parents divorced before she was born). Tom attended Texas A&M University but met Betty at college retreat and transferred to the University of North Texas which is in the same city as Texas Woman’s University where Betty was enrolled. They graduated in 1949 and were married in August that year. Tom enrolled at The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft Worth where he studied to be a pastor; Betty worked in the laboratory.
They served together for thirty and one-half years. While Tom was a seminary student, they part-time pastored a church in Oklahoma. In 1953 they began an eight year stint in Havana, Cuba as the pastor of an English-speaking church. In 1960, Tom became the Director of Missions in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. In 1964 they were appointed as Baptist missionaries to Spain where they served in three cities: Sevilla, Jerez de la Frontera, and Barcelona. They worked in such diverse areas as church pastoring, church planting, associational missions, missionary-team leadership roles, teaching seminary students, church construction, literature distribution, WMU work, direct personal training of national leaders, translating for groups from the US, and too many other ways to count. They had four sons, Tom, Dick, Charles, and Steve who served alongside them.
In January 1980, Tom was diagnosed with colon cancer. Tom and Betty flew to the US for treatment; he died in Houston on April 3.
Betty stayed in Houston for a few months and in 1981 began working at the home office in Richmond, Virginia of the Foreign Mission Board in the Western South America office. She worked there for twelve extraordinary years with the missionaries first in Spanish South America and then in the Americas Region culminating with her becoming the Regional Vice President of the Americas from 1990-1993.
Following early retirement in 1993, Betty helped start the Global Mission Office of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in Atlanta. In Houston, Richmond and Atlanta, God provided a church family and opportunities to serve in various capacities in those churches. Betty retired in 1996 and returned to Fort Worth, her home town. She joined Gambrell Street Baptist Church where she has served as a deacon, teacher, and trustee.
In Betty’s own words:
Over the years, I have developed 20/20 HINDSIGHT. Each time I have felt God leading me to make a decision that was certainly NOT in “my plans” and have followed God’s leading; I have been blessed in ways beyond understanding. Deut. 31:8 has been my strength and reassurance for many years as I have faced new challenges:
The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.
Tribute provided by Steve Law, Richmond, VA November, 2020
