Miss Nancy B. Hunter

Dates of Service: 1936-1964

Just as Clemmie Henry followed her cousin Margaret to Maryville College, Nancy B. Hunter followed her sister, Josephine.

In 1932, Josephine Hunter was fresh from a master’s degree in college personnel work from the University of Pittsburgh. Hired as the head of Baldwin Hall, she moved south. Marriage eventually ended Josephine’s work at the College, but in 1936, sister Nancy, a graduate of Cornell University, moved to Tennessee to become Secretary to the President.

She was hired by then-president Dr. Ralph W. Lloyd, and she stayed throughout his tenure. Maryville College historians Dr. Arda Walker and Dr. Carolyn Blair noted that she “kept the office running smoothly during his absences,” and as Dr. Lloyd was often traveling on behalf of the college and church business, those absences were frequent and often prolonged.

Nancy Hunter loved reading, supporting Blount County’s Friends of the Library and the AAUW’s book fair, and she seized opportunities to travel. In 1956, she accompanied other faculty and staff on a trip to eight national parks. After she retired in 1964, she served as a Volunteer in Mission in Tehran, Iran, for two years, working at an American Mission school, at which Dr. Commodore Fisher, a Maryville College faculty member, had also worked. Following that assignment, she moved to India, where she became the secretary for a mission hospital. She returned to Maryville, but after little more than a year she was asked go back to Iran to help convert a Christian girls’ high school to a four-year Christian college. She left Iran one year before the fall of the Shah’s regime and returned again to Maryville. From there she continued to travel widely, and to enjoy a well-earned retirement.

She died in 1995 in Maryville and left the College a sizeable bequest. Today, the College’s Outstanding Staff Award is named for Miss Hunter. Presented during Commencement exercises in May, the award goes to a staff member who has exhibited dedication and commendable service to the College.