Fay Honey Knopp

Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut on August 15, 1918, Honey died Thursday, August 10, 1995 at her home in Shoreham, Vermont. Her death was caused by complications from ovarian cancer.

Honey's involvement and commitment to social change was crystallized in 1939 when she began a lifelong association with the Religious Society of Friends. She formally became a Quaker in 1962 and was designated as a Quaker "minister of record" to serve as a prison visitor. She was one of only two people permitted by the Federal Bureau of Prisons to visit any federal prison in the United States. As a Friend, Honey had found a way of spiritually expressing herself that was consistent with her spiritual sense of community and sense of service.

In 1962, Honey led a march through Geneva, Switzerland to deliver a peace message to U.S. Ambassador Dean and U.S.S.R. Ambassador Zorin to protest atomic weapons testing. In 1964, she helped Clairie Harvey of Womanpower United to arrange and facilitate inter-racial dialogue among women in the South. Honey was present in Czechoslovakia in 1968 to protest the Soviet invasion and in 1971 was at the Paris Peace Conference to support a negotiated peace in Vietnam. She was the coordinator for the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors and counseled many young men about the draft. Honey served as the Executive Director for the New York Region of the American Friends Service Committee and from 1965 to 1972 was the Special Projects Director AFSC's National Peace Education Division.

As Honey began her prison ministries, she recognized the futility of locking people up and not providing therapy to facilitate change which resulted in releasing many of them to continue the same behaviors that precipitated their incarceration. In the process of investigating alternatives to primarily punitive based prisoner programs, Honey established the Prison Research Education Action Program in 1976. In the early 1980's PREAP became the Safer Society Program and Press. Under Honey's direction, guidance and leadership, SSPP grew to be an internationally respected program dedicated to research and advocacy for crime prevention, with special emphasis on treatment for sex offenders. Although she stepped down as Director of SSPP in 1993, she was quick to clarify any misconceptions about her retirement! From the original SSPP office, which was attached to the log home the Knopp family built when they moved to Vermont, Honey had actively continued her busy schedule of public speaking, media interviews, phone consultations, and her writing. Her latest book about the complexities of traumatic memories of child sexual abuse was published in January 1996. She continued to actively participate on several task forces, committees, and Advisory Boards — including the ATSA Advisory Board and the ATSA Public Policy Committee.

During her career Honey received numerous awards and honors, including being named one of the 100 Outstanding Women of Connecticut by Governor Ella Grasso in 1978. In 1980 she received the Martin Luther King, Jr. Award from the Fellowship of Reconciliation; in 1981 the Fortune Society presented her with the Karl Menniger Award; in 1990 Governor Madeline Kunin designated her an Extraordinary Vermonter; in 1991 she was presented with the Public Service Award from the University of Minnesota Program in Human Sexuality and in 1992, the Dismas House, a transitional living center for inmates re-entering society, presented her with the Jack Hickey Award.

Honey's involvement in the work of eliminating sexual abuse advanced the field and made many communities safer while helping all of us remember why we were doing the work. She was our light and our directional beacon. She gave us hope and courage. She was our mentor and our support. She was our confidant and our cheerleader. She was our reality check and our dream maker. She nurtured us and gave us strength. She pushed us to reach our goals and gave us hugs of encouragement when we needed them the most. She supported and helped us when we took risks and gave us all the credit when we succeeded. She taught us of visions and left us with many warm memories, priceless gifts of hope and smiles of discovery to help guide our journey into the future.

Connie Isaac

Former Executive Director of ATSA
Friend and Colleague of Fay Honey Knopp

To view and/or print the specifics for the Fay Honey Knopp Award of Spirit and Humanity, click here.