Spilman, Johnetta Webb, 1888-1982

Johnetta Webb Spilman (1888-1982), a Chowan County native, taught in her own business school before becoming assistant treasurer of East Carolina Teachers College, where her husband John Barham Spilman (whom she married in 1917) was business manager. Mrs. Spilman became active in the North Carolina Democratic party as a precinct chairman in 1924; she ran as a candidate for the North Carolina Senate in 1932. Her first state-wide duties included coordinating activities of Democratic women in the 1936 Clyde R. Hoey gubernatorial campaign and assuming the vice-chairmanship of the North Carolina Democratic party in August 1936. Governor Hoey appointed her to the North Carolina Unemployment Compensation Commission. Mrs. Spilman also served as manager of the Greenville (N.C.) Employment Security Commission (1942-1944), assistant director of the 1950 Census for the First Congressional District, executive director of the Pitt County Tuberculosis Association (1950-1957), director of the North Carolina Mental Health Association (1957-1968), director of the Greenville Council on Aging, and member of the Governor's Council for the Aging.

From the description of Johnetta Webb Spilman papers, 1890-1977 [manuscript]. (East Carolina University). WorldCat record id: 285556736