Carolyn Hunt

Carolyn Joyce Hunt (née Leonard; born July 3, 1937) is an American educator and politician who, as the wife of Jim Hunt, served as the Second Lady of North Carolina from 1973 to 1977 and twice-served as the First Lady of North Carolina, from 1977 to 1985 and again from 1993 to 2001. She is the longest serving first lady in North Carolina history and she and her husband were the first governor and first lady to serve two four-year terms in North Carolina. As first lady, she served as the Chairwoman of the advisory council for the Governor's Office of Citizen Affairs, which promoted volunteerism throughout the state, and as Chairwoman of the North Carolina Friendship Force Program, a chapter of Friendship Force International, which promoted international student exchange programs in state public schools. In between her terms as first lady, she served on the board of directors and the executive committee of Friendship Force International and, in 1986, was elected to the Wilson County Public School Board.

Early life and education Hunt was born Carolyn Joyce Leonard on July 3, 1937, in Mingo, Iowa, to Carl Avery Leonard and Norma Henderson Leonard. In her youth, she spent time living in Germany as an exchange student. She met her future husband, James Baxter Hunt II, at a National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry Youth Conference in Hamilton, Ohio. She was a member of the National Grange Youth Committee and he was serving as the president of the North Carolina Grange Youth Chapter. Hunt attended Iowa State Teachers College until she became engaged. When they returned to the United States, Hunt continued to teach while her husband practiced law.

When her husband was reelected as governor in 1993, Hunt used her position as first lady to focus on education, early childhood health, volunteerism, and women's health issues. She replaced the portrait with another of former First Lady Jeanelle C. Moore.