When I began work at WGTD back in 1986,  I hosted a Saturday afternoon classical music request program that turned out to be a valuable tool by which to get to know some of the most interesting people in the Kenosha and Racine communities.  One of them made a very strong impression on me the first time she called because she introduced herself by name and and then thanked me for hosting such an interesting program. . . the very first caller who actually took the trouble to do that. . . before requesting the Strauss waltz My Life is Laughter and Love, which she said was her late husband’s favorite piece of classical music.  She was an intelligent, articulate woman and so warm- hearted. . . and I remember thinking that I very much wanted to meet this woman someday.  And when that day finally came at some community event,  Joan Rohan turned out to be just as delightful in person as she was over the phone.   And although our paths did not cross quite as often as I would have liked,  whenever we bumped into each other at a concert, play or other arts event,  I would walk away from the encounter feeling a little bit better about the world.  She was 70 years old when we first met, and although she was an incredibly vigorous 70, various health issues started slowing her down- but never stopped her.  One of my most enduring memories of Joan is of her tearing tickets at the Racine Theater Guild even after she was confined to a wheelchair.  She was not about to cut back on such volunteer work until it was absolutely necessary.

I knew a bit about her life from our conversations, including how Joan met the legendary woman suffragist Olympia Brown back in the early 1920’s, when Joan was a young girl.  Mrs. Brown, who enjoyed the distinction of being the first American woman to be an ordained minister- and someone who had worked for women’s rights beside Susan B. Anthony – was by that point a very elderly woman and not often seen in public.  But on that particular Sunday morning,  she had managed to get herself to church and was seated in her favorite pew, right on the aisle…. and Joan’s mother directed her daughter to make her way up to Mrs. Brown and pay her respects – which she obediently did.  I thought of that encounter every time I saw Joan,  reveling in the fact that I was shaking the hand of someone who shook the hand of Olympia Brown who shook the hand of Susan B. Anthony.  There seemed to be precious history in every handshake.

Joan Rohan died earlier this week at the age of 95- and as I  read her obituary I was struck by all that this woman did that I knew nothing about this lifelong resident of Racine.  And it was interesting how certain things that were not even earth- shaking revelations nevertheless made a deep impression- such as the simple fact that she attended Winslow Elementary School, which is where she first met her future husband, Bill Rohan.   I only knew Joan as a senior citizen, so it’s fun to imagine her as a youngster, sitting at a desk, making life very interesting, I’m sure, for all of her teachers and classmates.  She went to college but immediately upon graduation returned to Racine to care for her father and brother because her mother had died.  I was neat to know that this impressive woman who accomplished so much in her life was willing to put aside her goals and dreams for a time for the sake of her family.

And those dreams were not stalled for long.  She took the train to Milwaukee to study art – eventually shifted to art history because she thought it would be more practical.  She  also earned her pilot’s license, of all things – inspired, perhaps, by the great Amelia Earhart?  As for the jobs she held,  my goodness!  She taught art history.  She taught girls power sewing and to work in machine shops.   She worked in advertising.  She designed metal-cutting tools for a small tools shop.  She worked for a leading social work agency in Racine.  Her tireless inquisitiveness finally led her to her ultimate professional destination…. the library! (Talk about a match made in heaven!)  She worked for the Racine Public Library and then at Knapp Elementary School.  O how I would have loved to have been in that school and had a librarian like Joan Rohan ushering me down all kinds of fascinating intellectual pathways!  And all the while,  Joan was incredibly active both in the arts and with environmental causes- and was one of the first people to be named a Woman of Distinction by the YWCA.  And no one deserved that designation more than she did.

My biggest regret regarding Joan is that I didn’t know her better – and never really went out of my way to do something about that.  I was content for our paths to cross every so often and leave it at that.  What a shame!  Now that she’s gone, I feel like I allowed a precious opportunity to carelessly slip through my fingers.   Of all the blessings God gives us in this life,  I’m not sure any is more precious than the privilege of knowing amazing people and being inspired by them.  .  .  men and women of distinction like Joan Rohan.

pictured above:   This one one of the last times I had the chance to chat with Joan Rohan.  This was on the occasion when our friend Lisa Neubauer became Judge Neubauer, about four years ago.  Caritas was asked to sing for the ceremony, and then-Wisconsin governor Jim Doyle was there…. but for me the greatest pleasure of the occasion, aside from seeing Lisa sworn in, was talking with Joan.