Murdered NJ Girl Scout’s Mother To Hold Annual Kids' Safety Fair In Bergen County

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — It's been 52 years since Rosemarie D'Alessandro's 7-year-old daughter Joan was killed by a neighbor when she went to deliver Girl Scout cookies. D'Alessandro is still healing from the murder — but has found ways to help others, including an upcoming safety festival.

The 11th annual Child Safety Fest will be held this Saturday at the Hillsdale Train Station.

It was 1973 when young Joan walked outside her Hillsdale home to deliver a box of Girl Scout cookies to a neighbor, after begging her parents to let her go.

A different neighbor — Joseph McGowan, a science teacher at Tappan Zee High School — assaulted and killed Joan. He spent the rest of his life in prison, thanks to continual efforts by Rosemarie and her advocacy organization, Joan's Joy.

The annual safety fairs they hold each year are, she says, "part of doing what I was meant to do. I also coach people in grief, or who were abused. How do you get out of trauma? That's the important thing — what you do and how you do it."

Rosemarie said in an interview that the recent memorial service for Charlie Kirk led her to think more about Joan's death and her evolving responses to it.

During the service, Kirk's wife Erika said she forgive her husband's killer.

Rosemarie said she talks about forgiveness when she counsels people who are dealing with a tragedy.

"It made me think about [forgiveness] more," she said, "and now, I'm even starting to talk about things I didn't talk about much before. We have a mission that has amazing new developments. [Our organization] just developed a program for child safety and wellness that can be used throughout the world."

She added, "Forgiveness to me is not just words. It's the way you live. I had a lot of different things happen in my life. If I hated, if I had bitterness, if I had resentment — if I felt sorry for myself — that would achieve nothing, and it would just be about myself."

Event This Weekend

For years, volunteers have helped Rosemarie prepare gift baskets that people can win when they come to the Safety Fest.

This year, they have put together 77 baskets. (See them here.)

The Joan's Joy Foundation will hold this year's Safety Fest from 2-5 p.m. Saturday at the Joan D’Alessandro White Butterfly sculpture at the Hillsdale Train Station.

Attendees will enjoy music, entertainment, informative activities, and balloon twisting and face painting with Juggles. The free event also features a large Tricky Tray Raffle.

For more information, or to get Rosmarie's new book signed, go to JoansJoy.org.

The train station is located on Hillsdale Avenue, Hillsdale.

Additional Information

Joan's killer, Joseph McGowan, died in prison in 2021.

Rosemarie's book, which includes some letters he wrote in prison — "The Message of Light Amid Letters of Darkness" — can be purchased on Amazon.

Find out about events related to the cause at this website: Joan's Joy.

Read more about a related documentary here.