Norma Lea Beasley: Trailblazing Attorney and Businesswoman (1931–2012)

Norma Lea Beasley, attorney and businesswoman, was born in a one-room house in Springdale, Arkansas, on September 6, 1931, to Alphonso Franklin Beasley and Minnie Lea (Parham) Beasley. She lived and worked on her parents’ farm and orchard, but by the time she was twelve years old, she knew that she wanted to leave the farm and become a lawyer. Her parents saved their money to enable their daughter to go to college, and, at the age of sixteen, Beasley was able to enter the University of Arkansas, as she had previously skipped several public-school grade levels. At age eighteen, she entered the university’s law school and graduated in 1953 by the age of twenty-one. She was the youngest student and only woman in her class. Throughout most of Beasley’s school life, she helped her parents sell produce at their fruit stand. She also helped her parents sell eggs and milk. During her first semester in law school, Beasley’s father suffered a stroke, and this caused her to take over the family business, but by her senior year she handed over most of the business matters to her mother and sister so she could focus fully on her studies. Though she was accepted for graduate studies at Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, with money tight at home, Beasley decided to delay her studies and applied for a job as an attorney at an oil company in Tulsa.

Beasley was hired at Mid-Continent Petroleum Corporation in Tulsa, Oklahoma, without an interview, due to a recommendation from the dean at the law school. She became, at the age of twenty-one, the youngest attorney and also the company’s first female attorney. Beasley only stayed one year at the company in Tulsa before moving to Dallas, Texas, to attend graduate law studies at SMU and get a job. Failing to secure employment with an oil and gas company, she settled for working at Texas Title Company. While working at Texas Title, Beasley had to finish her bachelor’s degree due to a change in requirements at Southern Methodist University. She petitioned the University of Arkansas to allow her to complete a year of undergraduate courses in real estate at SMU and transfer back the credits and then work towards her graduate degree in oil and gas law. After a year she changed jobs and went to work for Fidelity Title as the head of the legal department and general counsel. To supplement her income, she also taught real estate courses and business law at Southern Methodist University. She passed the Texas bar exam in 1958. Around that time she also finally was awarded a bachelor of science in laws degree from the University of Arkansas. By 1960 she had completed her graduate course work at SMU. To finish, she only had her thesis left to write, but, having lost interest in the field of oil and gas, she never did write it.

During this time Beasley met Jean Walker, a young accountant, and together they established a company called B&W Investments, a business and real estate enterprise that purchased small rental houses. Beasley sometimes spent Saturdays shampooing carpets, painting walls, and doing other renovations at the rental houses. While still working at Fidelity Title, eventually in the position of executive vice president and general counsel, Beasley continued to teach at night and grow her business. In 1967 she was also hired by the Dallas County Community Colleges to spearhead the establishment of real estate departments at Eastfield Junior College and El Centro Junior College in Dallas. She left Fidelity in 1968 to start her own independent legal operations as an affiliate for Hexter-Fair Title, a new company.

During the 1970s, with various partners, she opened several title companies in the Dallas area. In 1975 Beasley teamed up with Fort Worth attorney Paul Pulliam to form Beasley & Pulliam that specialized in real estate law. By early 1979 Beasley purchased the Dallas branch of Safeco Land Title, a national company. By the time she was featured in the June 3, 1984, edition of the Dallas Morning News, Beasley was an owner in eight title companies, with thirty-three offices, and she had business interests in banking, real estate, oil, and manufacturing. She became the CEO of the “largest group of independent title insurance agencies in America,” and a majority of workers on her payroll were women. In 2001–02 she sold several companies, including Safeco Land Title, which had more than $16 million in annual revenue.

Beasley served on numerous boards, including the Dallas Citizens Council, Texas Health Presbyterian Foundation, Oaks Bank & Trust Co, Board of Governors–National Women’s Economic Alliance, and the Women's Advisory Board of Dallas Baptist University. She was a recipient of many distinguished awards. In 1984 she was named one of the Most Outstanding Business Women in America by NBC’s Today Show. She earned Beta Sigma Phi’s First Lady of Dallas Award in 1992 and was the Outstanding Achievement Award Winner for Commercial Real Estate Women of Dallas in 1995. She received the Texas Trailblazer Award given by the Texas Senate in 1998 and that same year was named as an inductee to the Texas Women's Hall of Fame by Governor George W. Bush. In 2003 she was inducted into the North Texas Commercial Association of Realtors Hall of Fame and was the first woman to be so honored. Beasley mentored and provided financial assistance to many men and women in the Dallas area as they established their business careers. She received several honors from her alma mater, the University of Arkansas, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Sam M. Walton College of Business in 2002, and she financed two scholarships for the University of Arkansas—the School of Business Norma Lea Beasley Endowed Scholarship for the final year female student with the “highest academic achievement in real estate” and the School of Law Norma Lea Beasley Endowed Scholarship to be given to a student demonstrating financial need. Beasley also donated one million dollars to the School of Law building and expansion project. In honor of her donation the University of Arkansas named the Entrance Hall in her name.

On March 29, 2012, at the age of eighty, Norma Lea Beasley died of natural causes in Dallas, Texas. She was survived by her sister Imogene Mayse, nephew Roddy Mayse, and niece Vickie Murphy. She was buried next to her parents in Forest Park Cemetery in her hometown of Springdale, Arkansas. According to those that knew her, Beasley “lived her Christian faith and kept three rules—work hard; be ethical and fair; and maintain integrity.”