Tag: Jocelyn Square Park

Thank You to Donors for the “Theresa Tree and Plaque”

by Joan Cavanagh, a friend of Theresa Carr

PAR readers may remember in the December newsletter there was a request for contributions to raise the funds to plant a tree and erect a memorial plaque in Jocelyn Square Park for Theresa I. Carr. Many PAR readers knew Theresa, whose activism spanned several communities and countries. A self-identified “Marxist-Leninist Lesbian Feminist,” she gave her fierce intelligence to the interconnected struggles for peace and justice.

Thanks to the following PAR readers and other donors, we have raised the money to plant a tree and place a memorial plaque to Theresa at Jocelyn Square Park on May 23, 2017, her 63rd birthday.

  • Anonymous
  • Gerrie Casey
  • Jay and Mildred Doody
  • Mary Fischer
  • Mary Johnson
  • Midge Jolly
  • Cornelia Kinnauer
  • Susan Klein and Henry Lowendorf
  • Preston MacAndrews
  • Pat Mikos and Jae Patton
  • Paul Mishler
  • Steve Rowley

Thanks also to Paula Panzarella and the PAR Planning Committee for accepting the checks on behalf of this project, and for delivering the payment to the Parks Dept.

Following the tree planting, there will be a gathering of friends and neighbors in the park. All are welcome! Details of the event will be forthcoming in the April issue of PAR. With much gratitude, Joan Cavanagh.

Calling All PAR Readers: Help Fund the Theresa (Carr) Tree and Memorial Plaque in Jocelyn Sq. Park

by Joan Cavanagh, a friend of Theresa Carr

Theresa Carr, May 23, 1954 – March 27, 2014

“Keep doing our work.”

This is a request for PAR readers to contribute what they can to help raise $675 to plant a tree and erect a memorial plaque in Jocelyn Square Park for Theresa. Please make your contributions out to PAR, note in the memo line that it is for “The Theresa Tree,” and send to PAR, P.O. Box 995, New Haven, CT 06504, on or before Jan. 1, 2017.

Many PAR readers knew Theresa Carr, whose activism spanned several communities and countries. A self-identified “Marxist-Leninist Lesbian Feminist,” she gave her fierce intelligence to the interconnected struggles for peace and justice.

In her years in New Haven, Theresa worked with many groups including the New Haven Action Committee Against Repression, New Haven Coalition for Justice in El Salvador, Spinsters Opposed to Nuclear Genocide (SONG), the Women’s Pentagon Action(s) and the Coalition to Stop Trident. The actions often involved arrests for nonviolent civil disobedience. She also served on the board of the New Haven Women’s Liberation Center and worked in her trade as a union carpenter.

Creativity was her hallmark. With other members of SONG, she once painted a blank billboard in full daylight at the State Street exit off I-91 with the iconic image of a woman kicking a neutron bomb; and, during a trial of SONG members for actions against U.S. military intervention and funding of repressive regimes in Central America, the marble (male) justices on the steps of the courthouse on Elm Street one morning mysteriously wore purple headbands.

Theresa traveled extensively and worked in many other communities. In Florida, she completed a master naturalist program, cared for stranded whales, and became an active member of the Key West Tara Mandala Buddhist Sangha community.

In 1981, Theresa bought and rehabilitated a house on Walnut Street across from Jocelyn Square Park with her partner. Later she spearheaded the renovation of the deteriorated city park, now a beautiful oasis in our neighborhood. Friends of Jocelyn Square Park awarded her a Certificate of Appreciation on Sept. 3, 2005.

Following a double mastectomy and a rigorous alternative treatment protocol for metastatic breast cancer in 2011, Theresa cultivated land in northern Florida until her cancer returned. Her last words before she passed here in New Haven at her Walnut Street home were, “Keep doing our work.”

Please help mark this important life as we move into our next, crucial phase of resistance in these fearful times.