Joan W. Lawrence's story

Joan Lawrence made history as the first woman elected to the Big Walnut Board of Education. She went on to become the first woman to represent Morrow and Delaware Counties in the Ohio House of Representatives.

Born on May 28, 1931, Joan Lawrence was raised in Brooklyn, New York. Her mother was a nurse and her father worked for Con Edison. Lawrence laughingly remembers being elected president of her third grade class. “Why we had a class president – I don’t remember.” After graduating from James Madison High School in Brooklyn, Lawrence trained as a nurse at the urging of her mother. She worked for two years as a registered nurse after graduating from Long Island Hospital School of Nursing.

In 1956 Lawrence moved to Galena, Ohio with her husband, Wayman, when he entered law school at The Ohio State University.  Having heard about the League of Women Voters (LWV) in New York, Lawrence joined the League in Ohio in 1957. “I joined in April. By September they were asking me to be on the board….” She rose to become legislative chair and statewide president.

Lawrence’s experience in elected office began in 1969 when she realized “there was a lot to be desired in the Big Walnut School Board” as her three children were growing up. The local newspaper editor told her at the time, “You won't be elected of course. We've never had a woman." Lawrence not only won, but came in first among five candidates. She served from 1970 to 1973.

Based on her legislative experience in the League of Women Voters, the Family Service Council hired Lawrence to be their first executive director in 1978. By 1982 Lawrence decided “I have to quit criticizing and get myself elected and see if I can do any better.” She ran for the Ohio House of Representatives and won, serving the 87th district from 1983 through 1993 and, following redistricting, the 80th district until 1999.

Lawrence’s Ohio House colleague Robert Netzley admired her legislative prowess, calling Lawrence “the Maggie Thatcher of the Ohio legislature.” The first bill she passed clarified public financing of education for the children of state prison inmates. She rose to become ranking Republican member of the Finance and Appropriations Human Resources Subcommittee, Chair of the House Human Services Subcommittee, and Co-Chair of the House Republican Policy Committee. Lawrence spearheaded Ohio’s major welfare reform legislation, which passed the Ohio House and Senate unanimously in 1997. Lawrence ran for her last two-year term in 1998 and could have served until December 2000, had she not been chosen for the governor’s cabinet. She was appointed Director of the Ohio Department of Aging by Governor Bob Taft in 1999. 

Lawrence’s honors include Legislator of the Year from the Ohio Association of Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board, the Community Development Award from the Morrow County Council on Alcohol and Drugs, and the Making a Difference Award from Planned Parenthood of Ohio. She credits her mother – a “great organizer and fundraiser for various charities” – for her leadership skills.