Lesley C. Doonan activist files (Ms.2019.001)

Biographical / Historical

Lesley C. Doonan was born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1943. She was the daughter of Ada L. Leavens and David W. Sullivan. Lesley Doonan was a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Rhode Island and worked professionally as a speech and language coordinator for the Cranston Schools until her retirement in 2008.

Doonan was a devoted feminist and social justice activist. She co-founded the Rhode Island Rape Crisis Center, the second such effort in the United States. She was a founding member of the Women's Liberation Union of Rhode Island, which was the first Rhode Island women's rights organization of the Second Wave. She was elected a Rhode Island delegate to the National Women's Conference held in Houston, Texas in 1977. She was a founder of the Women's Center of Rhode Island, which was the first battered women's shelter in the state. She was also a founder of the Rhode Island Chapter of the National Organization for Women and the Rhode Island Women's Political Caucus.

Prior to her death in 2013, Doonan was Vice Chair and Director of Humane Programs for Veterinary Assistance, Education and Legislation for Volunteer Services for Animals, Inc., a statewide humane organization formed in 1979. She was the Coordinator, since inception in 1988, of the Warwick Chapter of Volunteer Services for Animals, Inc. Doonan worked to rid the city of the gas chamber used for euthanasia of animals. She worked with the Warwick City Council and Mayor to build the new Warwick Animal Shelter after which she formed Friends of the Warwick Animal Shelter, Inc. to help care for Warwick's impounded and homeless animals. Doonan was a tireless advocate for the advancement of humane treatment and rights for all animals.

Doonan died at the age of 73. She is survived by her daughter Robyn Pothier and her children Maxwell, Kyle and Kaitlin and her brother Michael Sullivan and his sons Samuel and Patrick. She was predeceased in death by her son Robert D. Doonan. [Biography derived from the Lesley C. Doonan obituary, 2013]