Born in St. Louis in 1917, Carol McCarthy Duhme has dedicated her entire life to serving others. She got her start in 1939, when she earned a Bachelor of Arts from Vassar College and became a teacher at an elementary school for approximately five years. In 1959, Ms. Duhme joined the St. Louis Association of Congregational Church, and, except for a brief interlude from 1964 to 1966 when she served as a trustee at the First Congregational Church of St. Louis, she stayed there the rest of her career. During that time, between 1959 and 1995, she held the positions of moderator, member of the church council, member of the board of deaconesses, member of the board of deacons, and chairman of the board of Christian education.
Ms. Duhme used her talents to help people outside the St. Louis Association of Congregational Church throughout her professional journey as well. She was a member of the board of directors of the Chautauqua Institution, a nonprofit education center and summer resort in New York, from 1971 to 1979, and a member of the advisory council for the Missouri Baptist Hospital from 1973 to 1989. Between 1977 and 1979, Ms. Duhme was the president of the board of directors for the Family and Children’s Service of Greater St. Louis, and between 1978 and 1986, she was a member of the corporate assembly of the Blue Cross Hospital Service of Missouri. Over the years, Ms. Duhme also served the Eden Theological Seminary as the chairman of the 150th annual committee, the vice president of the board of directors, a member of the presidential search committee, and a member of the executive committee of the board of directors.
Even though Ms. Duhme is now retired, she has striven to remain active in her community. She has been a trustee of the Joseph H. and Florence A. Roblee Foundation since 1984, and has been part of the National Council for the School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis since 1987. Additionally, Ms. Duhme was the chairman of the Chautauqua Bell Tower Scholar Fund from 1961 to 2014, and was one of the council advisors to the UN Association from 1993 to 2010.
Ms. Duhme’s hard work and dedication have not gone unrecognized. She received the Dean’s Medal from the Washington University School of Social Work in 2015, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Women’s Foundation of Greater St. Louis in 2011, an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Eden Theological Seminary in 2002, and the Humanitarian Award from Planned Parenthood in St. Louis in 2000. She also earned the Outstanding Alumna Award from John Burroughs School in 1992, and was nominated Outstanding Lay Woman by the Missouri United Church of Christ in 1991, among other honors. Further, Ms. Duhme was featured in numerous editions of Who’s Who in Finance and Business, Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the Midwest, Who’s Who in the World, and Who’s Who of American Women.