When Janice "Bunny" Nairn and her husband, William Nairn III, depart their Wheaton home for Florida this summer, they will leave behind strong community roots - indicated by the two streets in their neighborhood named after their family.
The two - Nairn Road and Nairn Farmhouse Court - intersect Blue Ridge Avenue, where they've lived the past 36 years.
William Nairn Jr., the father of William Nairn III, moved to the area after World War I. His father, a victim of a mustard-gas attack during the war, moved to the countryside on the advice of his doctor.
The elder Nairn purchased 110 acres of farmland in Wheaton - which became a poultry farm. Although much of the land has been developed into residential homes, with several acres used by Wheaton Regional Park, William and Janice Nairn own one remaining acre. Janice Nairn, 71, formed the Maryland Coalition Against Pornography in 1986 to push authorities to enforce existing obscenity laws. She formed the coalition, she said, after attending a Washington conference on pornography sponsored by the Concerned Women for America.
"I became educated about the dangers of pornography and its links to sexual crimes, especially the abuse of children," said the mother of two and grandmother of five. "I just knew that I had to do something about it. I never intended to start an organization, but that's just the way it evolved."
Janice Nairn served as MCAP's president for nine years and sits on the coalition's board. Some of MCAP's other activities include educating the public about the effects of pornography and providing counseling for porn addicts.
John McCarthy, a Montgomery County deputy state's attorney, said Janice Nairn has asked him to investigate obscenity violations about four times over the past five years In every case, McCarthy said, his office worked with the county police to make sure the stores in question complied with obscenity laws, but officials did not find any violations."I think she's wonderful," said the Rev. Curt Young, her pastor at the evangelical Presbyterian Church of the Atonement in Silver Spring. "Bunny has been a very faithful and Godly woman in the church and in her public life. I admire her very much."
Fellow MCAP members have teased Janice Nairn about her nickname, "Bunny," because of the association with the Playboy bunny, said Peggy Cairns, who serves as MCAP's secretary and has known her for 14 years.
William Nairn, 79, who has served in the U.S. Army for 30 years, is a decorated Korean War veteran. He has played a supporting role to his wife's work with MCAP.
"They're wonderful people," said Barbara Meng, the Nairns' neighbor of more than 30 years.
The Nairns, married for more than 50 years, will be moving to Melbourne Beach, Fla., where their daughter Laurie lives, sometime this summer.