Joan Sexton, known for her activism in the Catholic peace and justice movement, died May 27 at Lenox Hill Hospital, Manhattan. She was 89. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated May 30 at St. Boniface Oratory Church, Downtown Brooklyn.

A native of New Jersey, she attended Red Bank Catholic H.S., and Manhattanville College.

Mrs. Sexton lived in Manhattan in the 1950s, residing in a “women only” apartment building, and working for Redbook Magazine.

In 1957, she married Richard John Sexton, a Navy officer back from Korea and newly enrolled at Yale Law School. They raised six children in Brooklyn. Later they adopted an African-American infant child.

Sexton, with her husband and children, marched in Washington against the Vietnam War, and marched in a No Nukes protest in Central Park. She also traveled to Nicaragua alone to protest with Witness for Peace.

She was among a vanguard of Brooklyn women who dedicated their lives to schools for teen moms, legal representation for public school children, remedial education for immigrants, and equal rights for women, in their workplaces and in their houses of worship.

At age 65, she entered General Theological Seminary to earn her master’s of divinity, and it was there that she, among many blessings, got to befriend Bishop Desmond Tutu. She served, both formally and informally, as a spiritual counselor to legions of colleagues, friends, relatives and strangers.

She is survived by her husband of 58 years, and her children Molly, Joe, Lucy, Michael, Ann and Kate.