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08/29/2018 08:30 AMA few years ago, Killingworth First Selectman Cathy Iino was considering appointing Joan Gay to a committee in town. When she brought the idea to a fellow selectman at the time, Fred Dudek, his response was rather extraordinary—“The Joan Gay?”
His emphasis has been well-earned. Joan, a resident of Killingworth since the late 1960s, has served on numerous boards including the Board of Finance, numerous charter committees and commissions, the Conservation Commission, and is currently a library volunteer, a member of the Middletown Refugee Resettlement Coalition, and serves as a Planning & Zoning Commission alternate.
“All of the boards and commissions that I have been on have been fantastic,” says Joan. “Politics do not enter any of our meetings; it’s all what is good for the Town of Killingworth.”
A longtime active member of the community, Joan’s latest and greatest accomplishment is helping to bring the first 9-Town Transit bus route to Killingworth.
The bus route, which began Aug. 27, runs from Madison to Clinton and then up Route 81 through Killingworth and Haddam and up to Middletown. This is the first fixed-route public transportation for Killingworth and Joan, a longtime advocate of this project, said a bus has the potential to open many doors for local residents.
“The fascinating part is in Middletown you get a free transfer to Hartford and from Hartford you can get a free transfer to get on to our routes,” she says. “The same is true for Madison—you get a free transfer to get on CT transit to go to New Haven, which is awesome…It’s going to open public transportation really throughout the state pretty much. It’s going to help seniors, it’s going to help students, it’s going to help promote businesses, and I think it is just a great opportunity for everyone.”
A Battle for the Bus
Joan dates early conversations regarding bringing a bus through town all the way back to 1998. Then in 2014 a hearing was held to see if there was true public interest in the idea. More than 100 people came to the meeting—students, seniors, businesses, and members of groups like Vista—all voicing strong support for a bus route.
“It was really gratifying to see not only the number of people who attended, but people who were not able to attend sent us letters so we compiled all of that information and sent it in with the grant application,” she says. “I would say that was really the stimulus to get it done because we got such positive reaction. Really money is great and having the funding is great, but if you don’t have people wanting to ride it, it’s pointless.”
The town applied for a Federal Transit Authority (FTA) grant, which came with a matching Connecticut Department of Transportation (DOT) grant. The federal money came through back in 2016, but DOT held up the project by delaying its 20 percent match. However, the DOT finally put the money through and now the bus is up and running.
“In Killingworth because this is the first time we are having a bus service, Cathy [Iino], [9-Town Transit Executive Director] Joe Comerford, and I actually went to a lot of organizations two years ago when we were told that we were going to get the bus and we distributed posters and I’ve already gone out again and distributed more all over,” she said. “The word has gotten out and we are going to continue to get the word out.”
New 9-Town Transit brochures will be available soon with all of the stops, ticket prices, and connections on the Route 81 line. The grant money lasts for three years and then the town will have to look at other funding models to keep the project going if the need is there.
“First of all I think both organizations. The FTA and DOT want to see if it is successful and if it is going to be used, so that is why we are strongly encouraging people to use the bus,” she says. “We are collecting statistics to see how many people are riding the bus and we are sure as the word gets out more and more that it is operational that more and more people will use it.”
Joan is Killingworth’s representative on the Board of Directors of 9-Town Transit, a member of the Route 81 Committee, and is the legislative committee chair on the matter. She helped organize meetings with town officials, state elected officials, and numerous sections of the community to generate support for this project.
“We have gotten so much support and I can’t think of one negative comment from anyone,” she says. “This is such a worthwhile organization. It does an awful lot of good service for the residents in our section of the state.”
Becoming The Joan Gay
It’s readily apparent how Joan’s big laugh and quick wit make her a pleasure to work with, but her tenacity is what helps get the job done.
“There is only one Joan Gay, and that’s a pity,” Iino says. “We could use more of her energy, her wit, and her persistence in fighting for the public good.”
With all she has given to Killingworth, it would be easy to assume her volunteerism took the role of a full-time job, but that’s not the case. Her efforts in town are just one of the many jobs and roles Joan has filled over the years.
She started as a teacher in the Wallingford Public School system, where she met her now late husband Roger.
“In the Wallingford Public School system, the teachers used to put on musicals and I was the choreographer for the musicals and he was with the sets and designs and that’s how our friendship started,” she says.
After teaching, she went on to work for a number of major companies and government organizations, often in high-ranking positions. She went on to computer programming at Aetna, where she helped develop large-scale systems in the pension department, and then moved on to the Department of Motor Vehicle after she was appointed by then-governor William O’Neill as an executive assistant and then as deputy commissioner.
She then jumped to American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, a major organization that had her commuting to and from Washington D.C. every week for years.
“They wanted me to come on board as the director of products and services and I had an extraordinarily supportive husband who told me to spread my wings, so I did,” she says. “That’s why I had an apartment in D.C., but I came home every weekend. Both kids were in college, so they were older and I didn’t have to worry as much about leaving my family.”
Joan has two children, Helena and David, and two grandchildren. After her time in D.C., she worked for a consulting company that took her all over North America and Europe. Joan only decided to retire fully about five years ago.
“I had fun,” she says. “It sounds like I jumped around a lot, but I was very fortunate. I loved every single job I had. I learned a lot…and the thing of it is it expanded your thinking.”
A busy career, paired with raising a family, leaves limited time for volunteering. Projects like bringing the bus route to town or sitting on boards and committees can at times be difficult and time consuming, so why do it? Joan doesn’t hesitate before answering.
“I believe in giving back to the community,” she says. “Killingworth has done a lot for our family and I was always brought up to not only take, but also to give. That’s just part of me.”