A LIFELONG ACTIVIST

Nearly 50 years ago, a group of mothers in Sunnyside, Queens, stood in front of rush hour traffic at 48th Street and 48th Avenue with their baby carriages, staging a protest to get a traffic light to help their sons and daughters cross the road safely while walking to school. Day after day they blocked the busy intersection for several weeks running, sometimes in the rain, clogging traffic and rerouting school buses.
Among the picketers was Gertrude McDonald, a woman no more than five feet tall but with a big enough voice to be nominated as the spokesperson for the group when, after several weeks, the city traffic commissioner had finally put up with enough. After all the protesting and the lengthy negotiations that followed, the mothers got their traffic light.
A daughter of one of the first families to populate Sunnyside, McDonald soon moved to the forefront of civic activism in the neighborhood. That first protest marked the beginning of a long and spirited career of neighborhood reformer, one that, over the years has taken the shape of political candidate, Democratic supporter and voice of the community.
Now, at 89, McDonald remains a prominent leader in western Queens. She is a member of a half dozen community government and civic organizations, including the local precinct Community Council and the Anoroc Democratic Club.
&#8220She has been a trailblazer in the community for so many issues,” says Joe Conley, chairman of the local community board. &#8220When you go to the dictionary and look up the word activist, you find a picture of Gert.”
McDonald's involvement in the neighborhood and firm commitment to activism grew exponentially and continues today.
&#8220I was always a volunteer someplace,” McDonald says. &#8220They always called me and asked me to help. I don't know why.” The wry smile and twinkle in her eye suggests she's just being modest. Finally she asserts, &#8220When I commit myself, I make sure I finish the job.”
In December, McDonald will lead a group of 40 senior citizens, most younger than she, to central New Jersey for a dinner show. McDonald collects all the checks and helps friends with ailing backs and aching hips pick the best bus seats on a chart. As one of the original founders of the Sunnyside Senior Center in 1974, she is now chair of the advisory committee to the director, in addition to running Sunday bingo and the travel panel.
&#8220She speaks up and is a strong advocate,” says Diana Cruz, director of the senior center who admires McDonald's evergreen advocacy. &#8220That comes from caring. It hasn't been watered down, it hasn't died. It's probably more alive than it's ever been.”
While most of her days are spent at the senior center, McDonald attends meetings several nights a week for the organizations she has been involved in for so many years. However, most of her civic activism began years ago, in her own living room on 38th Street, and those of other mothers and housewives in the neighborhood.
&#8220When we saw anything that was wrong we worked on it,” McDonald says. Her projects have included getting more programs for young people and seniors in the neighborhood, and most importantly, advocating for more cops on the streets.
Conley recalls one of McDonald's most fervent campaigns pushing for more police protection in the neighborhood. In 1982 she rallied families and businesses and collected 5000 postcards that were sent to the Mayor Ed Koch's office demanding more police for the 108th Precinct.
&#8220They didn’t know what hit ‘em,” McDonald says. &#8220They were flabbergasted.”
McDonald organized a protest on Queens Boulevard, finally getting the police commissioner's attention, and more cops on the streets.
In the background of her civic activism has been her political involvement over the past 70 years. She worked on her first presidential campaign in 1936, for Franklin D. Roosevelt's re-election, stuffing envelopes and distributing literature out of his Manhattan headquarters. In 1937 she joined the Anoroc Democratic Club in Woodside and continued to work for Democratic campaigns on the local level.
She was married in 1942, just before her husband got his marching orders for World War II and was sent to India. Albert &#8220Scotty” McDonald returned safely in 1945 and met their toddler son for the first time. The McDonalds had a second child, a daughter, and, eventually, seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
Meanwhile, McDonald's involvement in politics remained purely behind the scenes until 1968 when the local state assemblyman died suddenly and McDonald's women friends from the neighborhood suggested that she run for the seat as a conservative Democrat. A letter nominating her for the primary election was ignored at both the county and district level.
&#8220They told me, ‘Are you crazy? They’ll never elect a woman,' ” says McDonald, who met opposition from local male Democrats. &#8220Everything was going smooth for them and this was an upset. Everybody was mad at us, but we had such a good time.”
While she struggles to remember the exact year her son was born, McDonald recalls each name of the small band of eight women who helped her get enough petitions to keep her on the primary ballot.
&#8220To run for office in Queens as a woman in the ‘60s would have been unusual,” says Adrienne Kivelson, a former co-chair for the League of Women Voters local chapter and legislative aid for many levels of local government in eastern Queens. &#8220The political scene was very male-oriented. Female leaders got the mailings out. Males decided who was going to run for office.”
Although McDonald lost by 450 votes in the primary to a male candidate from Ridgewood, she believes her campaign encouraged Rosemary Gunning, a Republican woman, to run for the Assembly seat and win.
In the years that followed, McDonald ran for various other government positions to no avail, but, she claims, she regrets nothing.
&#8220Somebody has to win and somebody has to lose,” she says. &#8220No matter who you are, when you get in there you’re supposed to serve all the people whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican. At least that's how it's supposed to be.”
The long-term impact of her political trailblazing overshadows the losses. &#8220I opened the door for all these women who are doing it now,” she says.
Not until nearly five years ago did McDonald retire as a legislative aid from Democratic Senator Onorato’s office in Astoria. The highlight of her long political involvement happened in 1998 when the Democratic headquarters in Queens asked her to speak at St. Sebastian's Church parish center when Bill Clinton came to Woodside to support Charles Schumer during his race for the U.S. Senate.
&#8220What a thrill,” McDonald says. &#8220I walked in right behind him when they were playing ‘Hail to the Chief.' ”
Recently, the Anoroc Democratic Club honored McDonald for a lifetime of achievement. Her daughter presented her with a certificate and made a speech about the generous, wise and courageous contributions her mother had made to the community. To this day McDonald carries a copy of the speech, folded neatly into the cosmetic case of her handbag, remembering often the words of her child on that night.
&#8220I was speechless,” she says. &#8220Which doesn’t usually happen.”