If there was ever a day when it could have made sense to slip away from the radio station a little bit early, it was today…because I have tonight’s performance with the Racine Symphony to prepare for, plus the house needs to be put in order for an unexpected houseguest who arrives tonight.  So this was not a day to linger- and yet that’s what I did because someone remarkable was going to be stopping by.  And even though she ended up getting there a full hour later than originally scheduled, I’m still glad I waited around to greet an amazing woman named Joan Rohan.   She is now in her mid-90’s and wheelchair-bound, but once upon a time she was among the most passionate activists and volunteers in the city of Racine- an exceptionally bright, witty, and creative woman and the kind of person you wish there were more of in this hurting world.  My initial contact with Joan Rohan dates back almost 25 years ago when she was a frequent caller to my classical music request program on Saturday afternoons,  most often requesting a lovely concert waltz titled “Life, Laughter and Love.”  She was one of those callers whose intelligence and grace was very evident in those relatively brief conversations we would have.  Eventually I got to meet her for the first time and loved her in person every bit as much as I loved her over the phone.   I would see her at various events and before long she would be an occasional guest on my morning show as well.   She was an especially impassioned environmentalist but a champion of the arts and social justice as well and a figure you couldn’t help but admire.

What I will always remember most vividly about Joan Rohan, however, was a story she related to me on a number of occasions about the memorable day back in the early 1920’s when she met and spoke with a truly legendary woman named Olympia Brown.  Hers is no longer a well- known name outside of Racine,  but Olympia Brown was a very significant figure in the struggle for women to gain the right to vote.   She appears to be the first American woman to graduate from a theological seminary and the first to be a fully ordained pastor (in the Unitarian church) – and her speaking skills made her a very valuable asset in the suffragist movement.  She and Susan B. Anthony were close allies, and they participated in all kinds of rallies and marches.   (Olympia Brown was even part of the demonstrations in front of the White House during Woodrow Wilson’s presidency which led to widespread arrests.  She would have been in her 70‘s at the time!)  Unlike Ms. Anthony or almost any of the other first-generation suffragists,  Olympia Brown actually lived long enough to see women gain the right to vote- and cast her first votes in 1920 at the age of 85.   Think of what that moment must have been like for her and the bittersweet mix of emotions she must have felt in remembering all of the women who did not live long enough to experience this joy for themselves.

 

The last parish Olympia Brown served was right here in Racine and this is where she lived her final years of retirement.  Towards the end,  ill health prevented her from attending church as regularly as she would have liked, but she got there when she could.  It was on one of those Sunday mornings in the 1920’s that Joan Rohan, then a young girl of maybe 8 years old or so,  was directed by her own mother to step over to the formidable old woman sitting in her customary spot in the sanctuary and pay her respects- which she did.   And now, Joan Rohan is the last person alive who can remember meeting the great Olympia Brown – for whom that Unitarian-Universalist church in downtown Racine is now named.   And whenever I see Joan Rohan,  this is the first thing I think of-  that I am shaking the hands of someone who shook the hands of Olympia Brown.

Joan have lived her life in a very similar fashion-  bound and determined to make a difference for the better as long as there is a breath of life in her body.   One of the most touching scenes at the Racine Theater Guild in recent years has been to come to certain performances and see Joan stationed at one of the doors to the auditorium,  seated in her wheelchair, tearing tickets. At a glance it may not seem like a big deal. . . like curing cancer or demonstrating for the right to vote. . .  but somewhere I think Olympia Brown is looking down and smiling with admiration at who that shy, polite little girl grew up to be and the difference for the better which she has made in her little corner of the world.

pictured above:   Joan Rohan with two other woman who were guests of Linda Flashinski for WGTD’s “Education Matters,”   talking about women’s right and achievements over the years.