Mary Ellen Beaver has been awarded the 1991 Medal of Honor for a Non-Lawyer in recognition of her outstanding contributions to improving the administration of justice through tireless advocacy on behalf of migrant farmworkers.
With unflagging commitment to the fundamental dignity of her clients, Mary Ellen Beaver recognized that it was not charity which was needed, but the securing of basic legal rights. Tenacious in her efforts to secure those rights, she has earned the trust of the farmworker community, and often has faced the enmity of those whose abuses she strives to curtail. In serving the legal needs of migrant farm workers, Mary Ellen Beaver has given unstintingly of herself, not from abundance, but from personal sacrifice.
Loyal, caring, sometimes strident in her zeal, Mary Ellen Beaver has taken upon herself to serve as the conscience of a society to often willing to disregard and neglect those in its care without voice to object. It is with admiration and gratitude that we honor her.
