Carr, Evelyn
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Carr, Evelyn
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Previously working as a fraternity cook at Davidson College, Evelyn Carr was also a passionate advocate for affordable housing, education, community service, and a voice in mitigating any college controversies.
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Evelyn Carr was born March 31, 1931, in Davidson, North Carolina to Johnny and Minnie Mayhew. Evelyn has six siblings and attended the Davidson Colored School through 10th grade. In 1946, Evelyn married Orlandis Carr. The two briefly lived in Charlotte, where they had their first four children. They decided to move back to Davidson and purchased their first home only for it to be relocated shortly after due to the development of Lake Norman, placing them on Griffith Street where Evelyn would remain the rest of her life. Evelyn and Orlandis would have nine children and a foster son together, all of whom attended Sunday school as Evelyn had at the Davidson Colored Presbyterian Church as a child. In 1955, Evelyn would join her mother as a cook for the Beta Theta Pi fraternity at Davidson College, making $9.95 a week for her ten-hour days. She remained working there for ten years. During her time at Davidson College, she became a prominent voice concerning the controversy over the College buying houses on Griffith Street and dislocating the affected families. Evelyn had a strong presence in other areas of her community, such as volunteering for Housing development organizations, a youth corporation, the community center, and multiple town committees. She won the G. Jackson Burney Community Service Award in 2006. After twenty-two years of work at General Time, she returned to Davidson College, working for Professor Tom Clark, and lastly housekept for a Davidson family. Evelyn died on December 20, 2023.
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31 March 1931
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20 December 2023
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Aaron Houck, “Griffith Street greenway spawns controversy,” The Davidsonian, November 1, 1999, 1 and 4.
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Jan Blodgett, Interview with Evelyn Carr, September 4, 2002, transcript, Archives and Special Collections, Davidson College, Davidson, NC
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1940 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.
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