Louisa Benson Craig

Louisa Benson Craig
Born	10 March 1941 (1941-03-10) Rangoon, British Burma
Died	2 February 2010 (2010-02-03) (aged 68) Los Angeles, California
Cause of death	Cancer
Nationality	American
Ethnicity	Sephardic Jew and Karen
Alma mater	Tufts University Columbia University
Spouse(s)	Lin Htin (1964-1965) Glenn Craig (1967-)
Children	Charmaine Craig Colleen Craig Bradford Craig
Parent(s)	Saw Benson Naw Chit Khin

Louisa Charmaine Benson Craig (sometimes spelt Luisa Benson; 10 March 1941 – 2 February 2010) was a Burmese-born two-time beauty pageant winner and Karen rebel leader of Portuguese Jewish and Karen ancestry who was particularly known for becoming Burma's first Miss Universe contestant in 1956 and again Miss Burma in 1958.

After American schooling she returned to Karen State and married Lin Htin, a commander of the Karen National Liberation Army(KNLA) in 1964. After her husband's death in 1965, widowed Louisa led the Fifth Brigade, but fell out with the Karen National Union leadership following a power struggle with Bo Mya.

As a "Most Wanted" independence warrior leader, Louisa was urged by her people in 1967 to leave to spare her life; and she emigrated to the United States by marrying a Mayflower descendant of Massachusetts' historic Governor Bradford and an aunt who started Twinings American tea company, Glenn Campbell Craig, former classmate of her youthful overseas studies at Tufts University, who reconnected with her as a U.S. Naval officer requesting assignment to Asian waters near Karen State.

After emigrating, Louisa Benson Craig obtained a master's degree in international affairs at Columbia University and worked to advocate for Burmese democracy and resettlement efforts for Burmese refugees in the United States. In 2004, she was named a plaintiff in a landmark human rights case against Unocal, which was operating in Burma, for profiting from the Burmese military's alleged human rights abuses by operating the Yadana gas field.

Family

Louisa's father, Saw Benson (also known as Moses Ben-Zion Koder), was an entrepreneur descended from the Koder family, a prominent Cochin Jewish business clan in South India's Cochin (now Kochi) on his paternal side, and the Leynado family, a Sephardic Jewish family on his maternal side. He converted to Christianity and in 1939 married an ethnic Karen woman, Naw Chit Khin.

Louisa bore three children to Glenn Craig, who became an entrepreneur helping found an international school publications enterprise out of California. Their daughter perpetuating Louisa's middle name, Charmaine Craig, is an actress who, like her husband Andrew Winer, is a novelist and university professor of literature. Louisa and Glenn's second daughter is a physician, and their son is a musician who also works in public radio. Karen relatives of Louisa also emigrated to California.

In Perpetuity

Louisa's legacy and memory live on not only as a heroine among the Karen people but also in continued awareness-raising by others moved by Karen courage and tenacity to hold onto ancient independence, history, culture, and identity.