Alton's Holway left indelible mark on sexual violence mores

ALTON — Almost 21 years before she passed away this week at the age of 96, Florence Holway suffered what polite company called "a fate worse than death" but through courage and resolve left a legacy that has benefited victims of sexual violence ever since.

Holway, a portrait painter and medical artist, came to Peterborough, New Hampshire from Cape Cod as a single mother with five children in 1958. After working at Monadnock Hospital nights while attending classes at Keene State College days, in 1963 she moved to Alton where she raised her own children and taught those of others. She farmed, gardened, and painted. And did not lock her door.

In 1991, not long after midnight on Easter Sunday, Holway, who was then 76, recalled "I was just getting my head on the pillow when he came at me. All I can see is those two hands." She said the man bound her with the telephone cord then choked and beat her before raping her. After patiently waiting until her assailant fell asleep, she dressed and drove to her son's home. Police found John LaForest, 25, still in in her bed.

Much later Holway would say "I lost two things that night — my teeth and peace of mind."

LaForest was charged with two counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault, kidnapping and false imprisonment. In May, unknown to Holway, Belknap County Attorney Edward Fitzgerald, doubting the evidence would ensure a conviction, offered to drop the kidnapping and imprisonment charges and recommend reduced sentences on the sexual assault charges in return for LaForest's guilty plea.

When Holway learned of the plea bargain before it was announced she immediately identified herself as the victim of rape and voiced her outrage to the media. She demanded LaForest stand trial and serve at least 25 years in jail, not the 12 to 25 years Fitzgerald offered. Within a day, the story was featured on local, regional and national television and before the summer was out Holway had appeared on CBS's "This Morning," CNN and the "Oprah Winfrey Show" as well as addressed the North American Victim Assistance conference in Los Angeles.

"She called her own shots," said Alice Calvert, Holway's neighbor of 50 years, who remembered her as "an independent person who was not afraid to take on a cause."

Meanwhile, after Holway spent nearly two hours on the stand openly and frankly recounting what she called the "raping" in graphic detail, Justice William O'Neil of Belknap County Superior Court, accepted LaForest's plea and sentenced him to 12 to 25 years in jail.

Soon afterwards the legislative leadership convened a committee, which included her neighbor Calvert, then known as Alice Ziegra, to review the sexual violence statutes and sentencing standards. Holway was the first to testify. "These men are working with laws we've given them," she told the panel. "Let's give some new laws." Calling for longer sentences, she said "I would hope for 50 years — no probation, no suspension and no parole."

At the same time, Belknap County became the last county in N.H. to appoint a victim-witness coordinator.

Two weeks later LaForest asked the court to allow him to withdraw his guilty plea and stand trial, claiming that his attorney misrepresented the terms of the plea bargain. In 1994, Holway sat in Belknap County Superior Court occasionally sketching LaForest, as Justice Peter Fauver heard his case and denied his request. And a year later she was present when the New Hampshire Supreme Court denied his appeal.

By then the Legislature had stiffened the sentences for rape from seven-and-a-half to 15 years to 10 to 20 years for a first offense, 20 to 40 years for a second offense and life without parole for a third offense. Apart from murder, rape is the only crime to carry a sentence of life without parole. In addition, the state established the sex offender registry and tailored the law to require sex offenders to report their residence, vehicle and employment regularly.

In 2005, HBO chronicled Holway's experience in "Rape in a Small Town: The Florence Holway Story," a televised documentary. "He turned me around, so that I was on my stomach, pulled off my nightdress in four pieces and threw on the floor," she recalled, speaking to the camera. And then he sodomized me. And I thought, well, shucks, this is a new experience. Good night!"

At the time, Sandra Matheson, director of the New Hampshire Office of Victim-Witness Assistance, said that Holway appeared not to appreciate the changes she wrought. "Back then I think people still didn't talk about sexual assault," she commented. "Having this strong 76 year-old woman come out and say 'this is what happened to me,' really helped to dispel the myth of this crime."

By then she had turned her energy, together with her brush and palette, to the campaign to forestall construction of a cell tower atop Prospect Mountain, painting landscapes to show what was at stake. "She put a lot of energy into something she believed," said Calvert.

"The gravity of her assault was very influential," Calvert said. "Florence tried very hard to help women speak up when they were raped. She said 'speak up so we can get these guys off the street." She said that by sharing her story Holway inspired countless others to show strength not shame in the wake of attack. "She had tremendous courage."