Betty Outlaw provide her kids with life lessons they remember to this day. The first that comes to mind, her daughter Monique Snow said, is “When you do something, do it right.”
There was no better example than her mom, Snow said of the woman who went on to become the first Black superintendent of Hudson County elections and the first Black woman to lead the Jersey City Department of Public Works.
Outlaw, who had suffered from Alzheimer’s disease the past few years, died Sunday at the age of 80.
“She did not believe in surrounding yourself with people who were no good for you,” Snow said was another one of her mother’s pearls of wisdom that stuck with her children.
Outlaw grew up in Beaumont, Texas and moved to Jersey City at the age of 22. She got her start in public service when she founded the Lexington Avenue Block Association in 1983 and she was instrumental in helping Frances O. Thompson become Hudson County’s first Black councilwoman when she was elected in Jersey City in 1985, said Bill O’Dea, who ran as part of Mayor Anthony Cucci’s slate that year.
Snow said Outlaw served as secretary to the city council and then secretary to Mayor Glenn Cunningham before being appointed director of Health and Human Services and then the DPW.
Even before that, Outlaw served at the Hudson County Division of Elections, first as deputy superintendent and then superintendent.
“She was a very confident woman, while also soft-spoken and tremendously respectful,” said O’Dea, who added that they kept in touch over the years until Outlaw became ill. “She quietly spoke out for the advancement of women, especially women of color, into positions like being a department director or superintendent of elections.
“She took great pride in being able to support women and especially minority women.”
Outlaw’s desire to give and to help people is what drove her, her daughter, Karen, said. “She likes helping people, she was all about the community.”
Snow said she hopes her mother’s death can bring some attention to Alzheimer’s disease and raise awareness on the signs of it onset. “In order to care for a person with this disease you must educate yourself. The disease takes over every part of your mind and your body.”
The wake and funeral services will be held March 29 at Redeemer Lutheran Church on Warner Avenue in Jersey City, with the wake from 3 to 5 p.m. and the funeral from 5 to 7 p.m.
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