Longtime Trinity College Administrator Lee Willard Dies at Age 71

Trinity College administrator Lee Walker Willard, who helped shape undergraduate education in the school and student lives for more than three decades, passed away Tuesday, March 28, at the age of 71.

She is survived by her beloved husband of 42 years, Carlisle Bobo Willard, son Carlisle Walker Willard, daughter Margaret Burnett Willard and sister Anne English Walker. 

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 15, at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Durham, with a private internment ceremony the following day in Montreat, North Carolina.

Lee Willard
Lee Willard

Daughter of the late Thomas English (Boo) Walker and Margaret Erwin Walker, Lee was born and raised in Charlotte and graduated from Agnes Scott College as a Phi Beta Kappa with a bachelor’s degree in classics.

She earned both a Master of Arts and a Ph.D. in classics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and went on to teach Latin at the Universities of Massachusetts and Maryland before finding her home at Duke. During her academic career, Lee forged beloved friendships that stayed with her throughout the rest of her life – most poignantly with Carlisle, whom she married after just 10 dates in 1981. 

Whether baking a tart or writing a grant, Lee believed in herself and that she could walk through anything if she put her mind to it. Over her 37-year career at Duke University, she served Trinity College under the leadership of 10 deans as Assistant Dean, Associate Dean, Senior Associate Dean, and Associate Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education.

Lee wrote and won seven Howard Hughes academic grants, launched academic programs empowering women in science, spearheaded the Arts & Sciences strategic plan, revised the liberal arts undergraduate curriculum, launched the Black faculty initiative, and led a senior women faculty recruitment initiative. Furthermore, the first year Duke faculty allowed women to participate in the annual “March Madness” pool for NCAA men’s basketball, her bracket won. 

Lee Willard, middle, with the other winners of the 2015 Cook Society Award.
Lee Willard, middle, with the other winners of the 2015 Cook Society Award.

Lee represented Duke nationally as a leader in higher education and conceptualized and authored institutional proposals that brought in more than $25 million to Trinity College. Lee was honored to receive the Samuel DuBois Cook Society Award for her work and its impact on minority students in 2015. She served as a student advisor throughout her tenure at Duke and received the Award for Excellence in Advising in 2016 prior to her retirement.

In addition, she wrote academic components of Duke’s compliance and reaccreditation reports for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. In 1988, along with then dean Dick White, she helped create the 36-member Trinity College Board of Visitors.  Trinity was the only school at that time that did not have such a board.

Lee and Carlisle had two children and built a life together in Durham. The family made regular trips to the mountains of Montreat, where Walker’s Wigwam became a sanctuary for visits with cousins, competitive Hearts games, needlepoint and creekside relaxation throughout the years. Lee was an active member of Junior League, Town & Campus, and her neighborhood HOA. A supreme hostess and chef, she had a flair for simple elegance and tasty dishes at gatherings like her “Occasionally Annual Valentine’s Luncheon.” As much as Lee loved to cook, she loved even more to cook for friends. 

Lee was a person of deep compassion, strong and constant faith, and abiding love for her family. Family was central to her view of her world: her beloved Walker clan, her network of friends and colleagues, her husband and children, and all those whom she made the focus of her days.

Eight months after her brain cancer diagnosis, Duke’s Trinity Board, which she had helped create years before, invited Lee to be recognized at its annual Board of Visitors meeting. There, leadership announced the establishment of the Lee Walker Willard Scholarship Fund, where her legacy can live on to empower the next generation.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the scholarship, either online at https://www.gifts.duke.edu/?designation=6189027 or contact danielle.stone@duke.edu for details.