Karen Bellavance-Grace was interviewed by Matt Hewes on April 11, 2020 via Zoom Platform from Northampton, MA.

Narrator:
Karen Bellavance-Grace was born in 1964 in Nashua, NH. After graduating from college in Boston, MA, Bellavance-Grace headed west toward San Francisco, CA. She turned around at the Texas border and ended up visiting a friend in Amherst, MA on the return trip. She has remained in the Pioneer Valley since.

Bellavance-Grace is an active member of the Northampton community at large, and served as an aide to Mayor Mary Clare Higgins. She was manager and then owner of Pride and Joy, Northampton’s long-lived queer bookstore, where she organized numerous LGBTQ events. Bellavance-Grace is also the founder of several organizations, chief among them is Valuable Families, an organization for LGBTQ parents and their families.

Interviewer:
Matt Hewes is an M.S. candidate in Library and Information Science with a concentration in Archival Science from Simmons University.

Abstract:
In this interview, Bellavance-Grace reflects on her life and experiences in the Pioneer Valley including her unprecedented engagement announcement in the local newspaper and the following unique marriage ceremony. She discusses the importance that community has played in her life, as well as her role in creating and fostering those communities. Bellavance-Grace also speaks about the changes she has noticed in the Noho Pride event and in Northampton at large since moving here in the late 1980s/early 1990s.

Format:
Interview recorded on Zoom.