Orelia Irish (Tate) (Law) Brooks, age 89, died June 27, 2025 at Mass General Brigham and Women's Faulker Hospital after a long illness.  She was born in Springfield, Louisiana, on January 12, 1936, to the late Charles W. and Anna (Miller) Tate. She was the second child of four siblings: Anita Simmons (Tate) Miller, Charles Tate and Clarence Tate. Clyde E. Tate was her half-brother.

As a woman of faith and a firm believer of putting God first in all that you do, Orelia served her Lord at the churches where she lived: Charles Street AME (Roxbury), Concord Baptiste (Milton) and First Baptist Church of Ponchatoula Louisiana. She was a member of the choir and bible study group, ushered at services, and did missionary work in Tennessee. She also volunteered in various aspects of church life whenever called upon.

Orelia's favorite activities were backyard family gatherings and having lobster and steak dinners with her daughters Leilani and Dessirree. She also enjoyed Leilani's homemade cakes, bowling, dancing, traveling, fishing, going to the beach, shopping, dining out and, most of all, hanging out with her grandkids. She belonged to several competitive Bowling leagues and loved winning amongst her teammates. In Boston she bowled with The Electrons in the Candlepin League and with the Scorpions in the Tenpin League; in Ponchatoula, Louisiana she belonged to a Tenpin League.

She enjoyed her dogs, Blueprint and Sadie, and loved working in her garden where she planted collard, mustard and turnip greens, tomatoes, strawberries, and fruit trees.

Orelia worked for the U.S. Postal Service in Boston from 1971 to 1992.  When she retired in October 1992, she moved back to Ponchatoula.  She returned to Boston in 2016 to be closer to her family.

In addition to parents, Orelia was predeceased by her brothers Charles Tate and Clyde E. Tate (2004), her husbands, Issie James Law and Cleveland Brooks (2021), and her son, Wallace Jay Law (2001).

Orelia leaves behind five children: Dessirree Denise (Law) Kenku, Leilani Jean (Law) Spellman and her husband Michael, Adreenne Lavern Law and her husband Thomas Hampton, Jimmerell Marie (Law) Fisher and her husband Cyril, and Eric James Law.  She is also survived by 18 grandkids, 47 great-grandkids and 7 great-great-grandkids and several nieces, nephews and cousins.