Joan
M. Driscoll-Kelly - a life dedicated to social responsibility
by Suzanne Arney
Joan "Joanie" Driscoll-Kelly took to heart
the mission of Saint Mary's College– a
personal sense of social responsibility – and determined to embodyits
core values of learning,
community, faith, and justice throughout her life. But ethics and empathy
had guided her since childhood. Her sister, Katherine Driscoll Jacullo
'80, recalls Joanie befriending a motherless classmate in first grade. "She
was kind and compassionate," Jacullo says, "the type of person
who was sensitive to others." The sisters were among 10 siblings
who, like their father, graduated from either Saint Mary's or Notre
Dame. "My parents were extremely good Catholics," says Jacullo, "who
lived their faith and did the right thing at all times. They allowed
my sister to be the person she wanted to be." Driscoll-Kelly wanted
to make a difference. And in the 21 years of her life following graduation,
she did.
The sisters were active in service while in college,
but Driscoll-Kelly always went a step further,
recalls Jacullo. While both tutored, for example, Driscoll-Kelly also
became a tutoring team
captain, and in her senior year was running the program. After earning
a degree in sociology, she spent a year in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps,
working with children in protective custody in
California. "Her job was basically to love them 24/7," says
Jacullo. A Master of Social Work degree from Rutgers followed, a further
reflection of Saint Mary's emphasis on the partnership of education
and action.
It was in Elizabeth, N.J., among the homeless,
that Driscoll-Kelly discovered her life work.
As first director of the Elizabeth Coalition to House the Homeless,
she worked tirelessly in every capacity to advocate, organize, encourage,
implement, and to share life's joy and grief with co-workers and clients.
She exemplified Saint Mary's core value of justice: a call to respect
all persons because of their God-given dignity; act as responsible
stewards of resources both on and beyond the campus; and advocate social
action and practice principles of justice and compassion. A Coalition
founder, Jacinta Fernandes, OSB, describes Joanie as "a relentless
worker for justice and peace."
Driscoll-Kelly's life, dreams, and
values were shared with her husband, Michael, also a
social worker. Until their three children arrived, they lived in an
apartment in Hospitality House,
which provided temporary housing to families in transition. Driscoll-Kelly
helped families find
permanent housing, employment, and navigate the social service system.
Among other
endeavors, she developed the "Right to Housing" statewide
advocacy initiative in the mid-80s;
was a dedicated supervisor for VISIONS Vacation Camp for the Blind;
and was the director of
development for the Tri-State Coalition for Responsible Investment
from 2001-03.
In March 2003, Driscoll-Kelly died suddenly of an unsuspected
heart complication. She was
43. She is remembered for her courage and determination, sense of
humor, grassroots ethics, and her devotion to her family. Today, the
newest Hospitality House in Elizabeth is being built. It
will be called the Joan Driscoll-Kelly House, in memory of a woman
who lived her life in
practice of Saint Mary's principles of justice and compassion.
Suzanne Arney is a freelance writer.
