Early Life
A member of the Allende family, Laura was of Basque and Belgian descent. She was born in Valparaíso, the youngest child of Salvador Allende Castro and Laura Gossens Uribe. Laura Allende completed her studies at the Colegio de los Sagrados Corazones de Valparaíso and the Liceo of Viña del Mar. She later studied law at the Universidad de Chile in Valparaíso for four years, but never completed her degree. While at the university, she joined the Chilean Socialist Party (PS), of which in time she would become a member of its central committee.
She married Gastón Pascal Lyon, with whom had four children, among them Andrés Pascal Allende, the future revolutionary. She also worked at the Copper Office (Departamento del Cobre) from 1955 to 1965, before launching her political career.
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