Barbara Joslin Obituary

Barbara L. Joslin CHARLESTON - Barbara L. Joslin, 89, of Charleston, retired Digital Equipment Corp controller and lifelong activist for social justice died August 28, 2015. Barbara was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. in 1925 to John Lohn and Dorothy (Ferneding) Lohn. She graduated from Washington Irving High School in 1943 and from University of New Hampshire in 1948 with a BA in Economics and a Chemical Engineering minor. She married Robert A. Joslin of North Attleboro, Mass. They settled in Winchester, Mass. While raising a family that grew to include 8 children, Barbara was elected Democratic Town Committee Member and Winchester Town Meeting Member. She fought to integrate the public schools and later for women's rights including the right to abortion. In 1992 she ran in the Democratic primary for Massachusetts 34th Middlesex State Rep. After moving to Charleston in 1995, she became active in organizations including Charleston County Democratic Women, 52% and Upper Concord St. Neighborhood Association. During a period of violent attacks on abortion clinics nationwide, Barbara volunteered to be a clinic escort at the Charleston Women's Medical Clinic. She joined the fight to bring the confederate flag down from the S.C. statehouse in 2000. She served on the Board of the S.C. ACLU for which she was a spokeswoman. In 2007 she organized a "Jazz Homecoming" benefit concert for Jenkins Institute. In 2009 she led a successful effort to rename the Upper Concord St. Neighborhood "Gadsden's Wharf" after Revolutionary War radical Christopher Gadsden. She stepped forward to serve on the Board at Dockside Condominium and worked on several major construction projects including the River Front Walk. Barbara was preceded in death by husband Robert A. Joslin, brother John Lohn (Eleanor, also deceased) of Yorktown Heights, N.Y. and daughter Dorothy Joslin of San Bruno, California. Survivors include daughter Dorcas (Bernard) of Chicago, sons John of Detroit, Peter of San Francisco, Andrew, Guy, James (Sonia) of Boston and Daniel (Leah) of Connecticut. She leaves grandchildren Lauren (Ian), Benjamin, Stalin, and Jeremiah all of Boston, Nathaniel and Samuel of Connecticut and nieces Heidi Lohn and Mathilda Gifford (Dave) of New York. Also bereaved are daughters-in-law Marlene Joslin of St. Augustine and Meg Andersen of Boston. A memorial gathering is being planned. Send donations in her memory to Planned Parenthood Federation of America 434 W. 33rd St. New York, N.Y. 10001 or online at www.ppfa.org or to Jazz Artists of Charleston P.O. Box 21756 Charleston, SC 29413 or online jazzartistsofcharleston.org. Visit our guestbook at www.legacy.com/obituaries/ charleston