Joan Rowley. An appreciation
My friend, Joan Rowley, who has died aged 72, spent her life helping other people and working for justice, including in El Salvador and, latterly, especially for justice for the Palestinian people.
Born in Edinburgh, Joan was the daughter of Rita (nee O’Connor) and Harry Rowley and their loving home was a focal point in the local community. During her teenage years, Joan was active in the ecumenical church movement in Oxgangs which is where her passion for fighting injustice began.
She trained as a teacher, taught in West Lothian, joined, at the age of 27, The Little Sisters of Jesus for two years, then travelled to El Salvador where she connected with Father Henry McLaughlin, an Edinburgh priest based there. They were dangerous times and many priests had been murdered by the death squads, yet Joan accompanied Father Henry in his work with the people.
During one raid on the village where she was staying she was captured and taken away by helicopter. This usually resulted in being thrown out into the jungle and, for years afterwards, the sound of a helicopter triggered anxiety. Another terrifying episode occurred when she was being taken under guard through the jungle and they came to a river. Because Joan had a lifelong fear of water and couldn’t swim, she refused to cross; she was more scared of the water than the army guns. The upshot was that one of the soldiers, realising she would not be swayed, carried her across.
Joan’s parents only became aware of the danger she had been in when a friend read about it on Ceefax; they were subsequently interviewed by BBC Scotland. With customary courage, Joan subsequently returned to El Salvador to find some of the people who had been with her when she was detained.
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Back in Scotland, she was asked to speak about her experiences in El Salvador by Norman Lockhart, a shop steward who had been an activist in Nicaragua. They became partners and moved to Innerleithen in the Scottish Borders where they shared their passion for fighting injustice and became active members of the local community.
Joan led the additional support needs department of St David’s High School in Edinburgh for many years, applying her fierce commitment to children and people less fortunate. An ardent feminist, candid, kind, compassionate and non-judgemental, she was a skilled facilitator, organiser and fundraiser and was much in demand in these roles. Joan held very strong political beliefs but, when acting as, for example, a hustings chair, she was rigorously neutral. Everyone respected her.
With her sister, Anne, and niece, Pauline, she helped to establish the Cheyne Gang, a community choir for people with respiratory problems, and her involvement with the local group, the Tweed Valley Cheyne Gang, brought her an enormous amount of pleasure; she was much loved by all of them.
Joan was a founder member and committed convenor of the local Palestinian support group. She also lent her love and support to women living with addiction or suffering at the hands of violent partners; she was kind, she listened and she cared.
Joan and Norman loved travel, world music and jazz, and their home was full of Central American colour, paintings and photographs of people they had met or whom they admired. Joan believed that cultivating hope is essential and that love, in different forms, is a powerful force for good. At their civil partnership ceremony, they celebrated “A love that is kind./A love that is bold./A love that endures – and dares to make things better.”
Joan’s beloved niece, Pauline, died just before Joan became unwell and this was a huge sadness for Joan and the family. Coinciding with her last birthday, Joan organised a funeral party for herself; she wanted to connect family and friends from all the different parts of her rich life, and to be there to enjoy it. Her beautiful smile and twinkling green eyes greeted us. At her actual funeral, her coffin arrived painted in the Palestinian colours and, led by Robyn Stapleton, we sang “Freedom come all ye”.
Joan is survived by her civil partner, Norman, her sisters, Moira and Anne, her brother, Denis, and their children.
LESLEY MORRISON
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