CLASS NEWS LEADING LADIES OF SAINT MARY'S Sarah Graham Kenan 1893HS North Carolina, Saint Mary’s benefitted from generosity of quiet philanthropist 1876-1968 The Sarah Graham Kenan Library at Saint Mary’s was dedicated October 11, 1966, in honor of Mrs. Kenan, a philanthropist from Wilmington and a member of the Class of 1893. Construction of the library at Saint Mary’s was made possible by Mrs. Kenan’s charitable foundation. Mrs. Kenan, born in Wilmington, N.C., was the daughter of Mary Hargrave and William Rand Kenan, a native of Kenansville, the namesakes of Kenan Memorial Stadium at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Kenan Family, immigrants from Ireland, arrived in colonial North Carolina in the 1730s, settling first in the Duplin County area and later moving to New Hanover County. Mrs. Kenan attended schools in Wilmington and New York City and graduated from Saint Mary’s in 1893. In 1912, she married her cousin, Graham Kenan of Wilmington, who practiced law in Wilmington and New York. After the death of her husband, she purchased a house on Market Street in Wilmington, to be near her sister, Jessie Kenan Wise. Mrs. Kenan affectionally called the house, Sunnyside. After Mrs. Kenan’s death in 1968, her nephew, James Graham Kenan II, deeded the home to the state of North Carolina for the trustees of Wilmington College (now the University of North Carolina at Wilmington). The 7,500-square-foot mansion on the corner of 17th and Market streets is the official residence of the chancellor of UNC-W. The home has nine fireplaces, six bathrooms, molded ceilings, and more than a dozen rooms. Mrs. Kenan was the sister-in-law of Henry Morrison Flagler who, with John D. Rock-
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efeller, founded the Standard Oil Company. The Flagler fortune was left to Mrs. Kenan’s sister, Mary Lily Kenan Flagler Bingham. Upon Mary Lily’s death in 1917, the money was divided equally between her siblings: her sister, Sarah Graham Kenan; her brother, William Rand Kenan Jr.; and her sister, Jessie Kenan Wise. As benefactors of sister Mary Lily Kenan Flagler Bingham’s estate, the remaining Kenans created charitable foundations that have greatly benefited North Carolina academic institutions throughout the state. Mrs. Kenan traveled extensively, spending time in Palm Beach and St. Augustine, Fla., as well as Wilmington in winter and Lake Placid, N.Y., in summer. She also traveled abroad and was an avid art collector. The Sarah Graham Kenan Foundation reported gifts to the Catherine Kennedy Home in Wilmington, the Duplin County Board of Education, New Hanover County private schools, the Episcopal Diocese of East Carolina, Duke University Medical School, the North Carolina Museum of Life and Science, Saint Mary’s, Thalian Hall Commission in Wilmington, Durham Academy, the Kenansville Board of Education, The University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and St. James Episcopal Church in Wilmington. In 1930, Mrs. Kenan helped the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill start the Southern Historical Collection. In 1965, Mrs. Kenan established the Graham Kenan Professorships at UNC in the school of law to honor her husband. Three years later, she created additional professorships that benefited the law, medical, and business schools. Mrs. Kenan’s portrait hangs in the lobby of the Sarah Graham Kenan Memorial Auditorium at UNC-W, a 1,000-plus seat performance venue opened in 1970 as a gift from the Sarah Graham Kenan Foundation, Inc., one of several structures at UNC-W funded by the trust set in her name.
Sarah Graham Kenan 1893HS
“Because Mrs. Kenan lived a quiet life and shunned publicity, most of her philanthropic activity went unnoticed,” wrote Ida Brooks Kellam in 1968. “Nonetheless, during her lifetime, gifts to charitable foundations and educational institutions exceeded $12 million,” (some $80-$100 million in today’s dollars). Mrs. Kenan died March 20, 1968. The funeral service was held at St. James Episcopal Church in Wilmington. She was interred in Oakdale Cemetery in Wilmington, where her parents are also buried. The William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust has continued to generously provide substantial grants that have made possible extensive facility and interior renovations to Kenan Library in recent years which have also made it possible to host visual art exhibits, literary events, and other programs throughout the year. Sources: Sarah Graham Kenan, by Ida Brooks Kellam, 1988, from the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, 6 volumes, edited by William S. Powell; Copyright ©1979-1996, Printed with permission of University of North Carolina Press The Heritage: The Education of Women at St. Mary’s College, Raleigh, North Carolina, 1842-1982, by Martha Sprouse Stoops The Carolina Story: Virtual Museum of University History, UNC-Chapel Hill