Carolyn Marie Smith Green, 89, of Henderson, N.C., a devoted Golden Eagle and a member of North Carolina Central University’s founding family, died Aug. 7, 2019.
Green graduated Summa Cum Laude from North Carolina College in 1951, earning a Bachelor of Science degree. She later earned a Master of Education degree at Boston University. She was a charter member of the Nu Chi Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.
As a granddaughter of college founder Dr. James E. Shepard and his wife, Annie Day Robinson Shepard, Green entertained prominent visitors to campus, including former U.S. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, vocalist Marian Anderson and sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois.
Her maternal great-great-grandfather was Thomas Day of Milton, N.C., a noted furniture maker whose work adorns many great homes and institutions, including the North Carolina Governor’s Mansion.
She was married to Dr. James P. Green Sr., a physician and member of the North Carolina General Assembly, from 1956 until his death in May 2006. The couple had three children, Isaac, Carolyn and the late James P. Green Jr.
Green was active in Cotton Memorial Presbyterian Church and other organizations, as well as many facets of public life, including serving as president of the Women’s Auxiliary of the Old North State Medical Society. She was inducted into the Society of Golden Eagles in 2011.
