Last Tuesday night, Jean McGuire was stabbed several times in Franklin Park.
McGuire was the first Black woman elected to the Boston School Committee, first Black social worker to work in for Boston Public School and a former director of the METCO desegregation program
According to CBS Boston, McGuire, 91, was walking her dog Bailey through Playstead Park in Jamaica Plain at around 8:30 p.m. when an unidentified person approached her and stabbed her five times.
Police said McGuire’s dog helped fight off the attacker.
“The victim was transported to a local hospital where she was treated for non-life-threatening injuries,” Boston Police stated in a press release. “Preliminary investigation reveals that the suspect may have been injured during this attack.”
On Friday, McGuire’s family released a statement:
The family of Jean McGuire would like to thank all of the doctors and dedicated health care workers who are assisting in her recovery. We greatly appreciate the outpouring of love and support that we have received from people in the Greater Boston area, across Massachusetts, and around the world.
Jean has spent her entire professional life fighting for all families to have the best educational opportunities to achieve their dreams. In her words, “We as a community can never forget that we need to stand together and continue working to empower our children through learning. We are at our best as a people; when it’s about ‘we’ not ‘me’. I love you all and I will see you soon.”
For those looking to support Jean’s legacy, she and her family will ask people to direct donations to a nonprofit fund currently in development that will help promote the education of the children of greater New England. The family will make a formal announcement introducing the establishment of the fund in coming weeks.
