August 6, 1896 – May 7, 1993

by Nelson McDaniel, Christ Episcopal Church, New Bern, NC, 2016

Miss Gertrude Sprague Carraway was born in New Bern, North Carolina, in the same house where she died, yet she was a woman who was always on the move. Born at a time when women in America could not vote and were often expected to follow assigned roles, she did not wait for movements to create her opportunities; she was a movement.

Miss Gertrude had a lifelong devotion to Christ Church in New Bern and wrote its most complete history, Crown of Life. She graduated from Woman’s College, today UNC-Greensboro, and attended Columbia University for graduate studies. First a teacher, it was as a school newspaper advisor that her talents in journalism quickly appeared. Along with newspaper work in Smithfield and New Bern, she wrote hundreds of articles and tracts, as well as several noted books. Her love of both the Word and the word, and her talents in elocution and writing, became important in her many leadership roles.

Early on as a freelance journalist Miss Gertrude often used her initials in bylines. Admirers of her work were sometimes surprised that the writer was a woman. A woman she was – one who both figuratively and literally marched with resolute purpose. While she may not have moved mountains (as far as we know), she and a group of others, mostly women, did move a highway and a bridge.

That challenge came as Miss Gertrude and other remarkable leaders sought to restore and rebuild Tryon Palace in New Bern. Begun in the 1920s, these efforts slowed during the Depression and World War II. During that war, Miss Gertrude received twelve awards for patriotic service on the home front. Following the war, she fought to create a site in New Bern that would provide the opportunity to teach both North Carolina and American history. The challenges were great, but Miss Gertrude and her colleagues proved greater. She was the first Secretary of the Tryon Palace Commission (1945-56), then was administrator of the restored site (1956-71), where the research library and garden carry her name.

Miss Gertrude joined the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1926 and assumed many leadership roles at the state and national level, including President General from 1953 to 1956. In that capacity, she is credited with persuading President Dwight D. Eisenhower to proclaim Constitution Week each year. Eisenhower was one of several Presidents who benefitted from her advice. And successive North Carolina governors appointed her to over twelve positions, including the Executive Board of the State Department of Archives and History, an appointment that lasted from 1942 until her death. In that capacity, she was instrumental in creating the state’s highway marker program. With such memberships, honorary degrees, publication titles and accolades her influence was wide.

Unfailingly polite, Miss Gertrude would greet everyone on the street, but seldom stop, unless for a purpose. Gossip and idle talk were not part of the plan. Action was. Always on a mission, aided by many, well done, thou good and faithful servant.