Carr maintains commitment to environmentalism

Story and photo by Karen Keefe
Grand Island Dispatch, December 22, 2006

Joanne Carr

Joanne Carr, mother of six grown children, began her career as an environmental activist with a group whose name might be considered politically incorrect today – “Housewives Against Pollution.”

It was a time when President John F. Kennedy was starting the Peace Corps, the civil rights movement was coming into its own and “women’s lib” had entered the popular lexicon.

“I was inspired to help the community by JFK’s words, ‘Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country,’ Carr said, explaining how she came to be involved in environmentalism.

Joanne and Bob Carr came to Grand Island with their young family in 1951. As a “housewife against pollution,” Carr fought the use of phosphates in detergents, a substance she said was polluting the Niagara River and streams in Western New York. From there, Carr became a charter member of the town’s new Commission for Conservation of the Environment – a commitment she maintained for more than 32 years.

She worked on getting the six Grand Island Eco-systems identified and included in the town’s Comprehensive Master Plan, said Councilwoman Mary Cooke, the town’s liaison on the conservation commission. Carr served as a voting member on the town’s Comprehensive Master Plan Update Committee.

Carr also was instrumental in getting the town to sponsor scholarships to send middle and high school students to the state Department of Conservation Camps at Lake Rushford.

“Joanne has been at the forefront of native plantings to enhance our Town Hall Square and has done he spade work in such plantings,” said retired Town Justice Francis B. Pritchard.

“In the elementary schools, she has, throughout the period, given seedlings to our children and teachings relative to the planting and nurturing of the same – all while serving faithfully and diligently as a long-time member of our town Commission for Conservation of the Environment,” Pritchard said.

She has been an idea person in several key town projects, and pointed out the opportunity for a state grant to get sidewalks for the town center. Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, D-Buffalo, Grand Island, helped secure that grant for the town.

She was a Girl Scout leader for more than a decade, founding what is believed to be the first troop on Grand Island in the 1950s.

Many people will remember she operated the Carr and Family store on Grand Island Boulevard, selling plants, health food and crafts, in the 1970s.

She was the first woman to run for Town Board on Grand Island in the early 1970s. “She was the first woman to take a stab at ‘breaking the glass ceiling’ – a true pioneer,” Pritchard said. Carr did not win that race, but set a precedent.

She served as a Democratic Committeewoman for many years and was involved, as well, as a Cub Scout den mother. She volunteered as a reading assistant at Kaegebein Elementary.

She baked the pies and many desserts for the first few years when the Village Inn restaurant opened on Ferry Road, then passed her recipes along to her daughter-in-law, Christine Carr, for desserts at inn owned by Mike and Christine.

Joanne Carr’s interest in baking continues today, and she shares her recipes in the Dispatch column, “Cooking Grand.”