Philanthropy and service are traditions passed down through the Duke family from generation to generation. Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans (1920-2012) was the daughter of Mary Duke Biddle, granddaughter of Benjamin N. Duke, and great-granddaughter of Washington Duke, for whom the university is named. She enrolled at the Woman’s College in 1935 to study art history and graduated in 1951. She married thoracic surgeon Josiah C. Trent in 1938 and had four children before he died of lymphoma in 1948. She later married urologist James H. Semans in 1953 and had an additional three children before his death in 2005.
Mrs. Semans’ connection to her alma mater was deep, but she was also active in Durham more broadly and in the greater North Carolina community. She supported the arts, education, and medicine, earning the nickname “the unofficial First Lady of North Carolina.” She was inducted into the North Carolina Women’s Hall of Fame in 2009.
The examples in this case show the range of her civic engagement. They are drawn from the Semans’ family papers, which are currently being processed as part of a five-year grant. For more information about the grant visit Duke Library Magazine.
