Joan McKenna, founder of South Jersey’s Women Against Rape, celebrated volunteer, and political activist, has died at 91
She raised three sons as a single mother and focused much of her attention on educating people about rape. “A horrendous thing like sexual abuse is hard to teach,” she said.
Joan McKenna, 91, of Mount Laurel, founder and executive director of South Jersey’s Women Against Rape; a tireless volunteer and advocate for wounded veterans, underserved children, flood victims, the elderly, and the sick; and a political activist who served in local, state, and national positions, died Wednesday, July 6, of respiratory failure at CareOne nursing center in Evesham.
Ms. McKenna founded Women Against Rape in 1973 in her Collingswood home as a volunteer organization to support and counsel rape victims in Camden, Gloucester, and Burlington Counties. During its 20-year existence, the group operated a 24-hour hotline and aided thousands of women and families.
It also updated law enforcement officers, public officials, and medical personnel about improved policing and examination procedures, provided temporary shelter and child care for victims, and created sexual-abuse education programs for children.
Ms. McKenna was especially dedicated to protecting preschool children. “A horrendous thing like sexual abuse is hard to teach,” she told The Inquirer in 1987. “Molesters can be anybody. But most are right there in the child’s own family, which makes the issue a very sensitive one.”
She organized effective fund-raising events featuring actors Connie Stevens and Michael Landon and TV personality John Walsh. She ran seminars for other volunteer groups and won grants from the New Jersey Department of Health, Camden County, United Way, and others.
Her budget for Women Against Rape in 1988 was $225,000, and many of the services she initiated had been absorbed by government agencies when it closed in 1993. “She was a leader, always hustling,” said her son Mike. “She always answered the call.”
Well-spoken and gregarious, Ms. McKenna gave lectures on rape at the Camden County Police Academy, served with the Camden County sexual assault coalition, testified to the New Jersey Senate on sexual assault legislation reform, and commented often in The Inquirer and other media outlets about rape and related issues.
She was featured in a 1984 New York Times story about the New Jersey Department of Health’s new manual for dealing with sexual assault victims, and she told The Inquirer in 1992: “We will attempt to raise the consciousness of communities, reach out to other counties and provide them with literature.”
Ms. McKenna also organized gift drives for patients at Blackwood’s Lakeland Hospital, fund-raisers for flood victims in Wilkes-Barre, events for the March of Dimes, and voter registration drives. She won New Jersey Governor’s Volunteer Awards in the 1980s and ’90s and recognition from Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush for her volunteer work.
Politically active, she became a Camden ward leader, county and state committeewoman, and delegate to the 1972 Democratic National Convention in Miami. She also worked as executive director of the Camden County Office on Aging, on the Camden County board of elections, and as campaign manager for former Collingswood Mayor Mike Brennan.
Born March 3, 1931, in Brooklyn, Joan Marie Toole grew up in Pittston, Pa., 12 miles south of Scranton. She married John McKenna in the early 1950s, and they had sons John, Mike, and PJ. After a divorce, she moved to Camden, worked as a secretary, waitress, and in other jobs, and raised her sons as a single parent in public housing.
“She was the strictest mom in the projects,” said her son Mike. “She was very protective of us. She had high expectations, was very literate, and insisted on a good education.”
After moving to Collingswood, Ms. McKenna was active in church, taught Bible classes, and organized trips to holy sites in the Middle East. She celebrated her Irish heritage and moved from Collingswood to Mount Laurel about 30 years ago.
“An amazing woman and a force to be dealt with,” a friend said in an online tribute. Another said: “She left a legacy that your family should be truly proud of. She fought fiercely and loved fiercely.”
Her family said it “proudly continues her legacy of faith, community and love.”
In addition to two sons, Ms. McKenna is survived by four grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, and other relatives. Her son John, former husband, two sisters, and a brother died earlier.
Services were held Saturday, July 9.
Donations in her name may be made to St. Joan of Arc Church, 100 Willow Bend Rd., Marlton N.J. 08053.