Homemaker Turns Into Activist

By Susan Greenleaf
December 2000

She moved to Lexington thirty years ago, but not until this year has Lorraine Fournier ever participated in town affairs. She found plenty to do just taking care of her husband, three boys and their dog, Marcus. Now she is a familiar name to Lexington's citizens. Its people know her face.

What has turned this industrious homemaker into an activist? Fournier decided she's going to fight for the Christmas crèche from being permanently banned by the town's Selectmen from the historic Lexington Battle Green.

Her "fight" may be on the Battle Green but it's not with guns and militia. She uses signs and placards. Every Wednesday evening, twenty to thirty Lexington citizens gather to protest the banning of the Christmas crèche, which has been a Lexington tradition for the past sixty years. Fournier initiated the campaign, applied for a permit to be able to picket and has made the crèche her personal battle.

She explains, "The crèche was here long before I came to the town and that was thirty years ago! I believe it was before World War II when it was first started. The Knights and the Masons have had the stewardship of the crèche for many years. So we feel it's part of the Christmas tradition." Fournier was at the Selectman's meeting on July 24, the night the crèche was banned from the Battle Green. She said, "There were a hundred to a hundred and fifty people there in the room and the majority of the people were there to speak in favor of the crèche. Only a handful spoke against it."

Fournier says when the Selectmen abruptly voted to ban the Nativity scene this summer, "I just felt I wanted to do something. I just had a sense that I should get involved. This is something that bothers me tremendously because once we lose our freedom of religion, I think we've lost everything. And I can't think of anything better to get involved in than to save the Nativity."

Fournier wants the citizens of Lexington to know this is not a Christian-Jewish conflict. "There are many Jewish families that feel the crèche should be left alone and there are people that call themselves Christians who don't want it on the Battle Green. I have heard many excuses and assumptions of why we shouldn't have the crèche. This is not an option, this is our Constitutional right!"

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects the rights of citizens, civic groups and churches to erect private religious displays in parks, town squares and public plazas, she says. When she spoke at one of the meetings she said, "Many of my relatives have gone to war for this country and for many of the freedoms that we enjoy today. I don't think that the Board of Selectmen has the right to take these freedoms away from us."

The picketing will go on till December 20. The group has had six rallies already.

Every Wednesday afternoon, from 4:00 till 6:00 p.m. the protesters stand on the Green and get a lot of thumbs up from people in the cars. Many drivers wave and show their support by beeping their horns. Fournier said, "It's really been nice because I've met so many wonderful people. I've lived here for thirty years and never have been a visible part of the community, but now I'm getting to know so many wonderful people and they're getting to know me, too." There are young parents with children, middle-aged and elderly that join with Fournier to rally on Wednesday evenings.

"I feel what I'm doing is something really good and worthwhile. You know they say there's something good and bad that comes out of everything. Now the bad thing that came out of this is that the crèche got banned from the Battle Green. But the good thing is a lot of people have gotten to know each other in the community. We've all banded together. We're working for one cause. That has been a wonderful experience. So there's always something good that comes out of something bad. That's the way I look at it."