Torch Member Spotlight – Louise Maynor

The next installment in the Durham-Chapel Hill Torch Club member spotlight focuses on Dr. Louise Maynor.  As the club’s longstanding secretary, Louise greets members each month with a smile and a name tag.  She keeps us informed and organized, and she has been recognized for her service to the club with a Silver Torch Award. 

With a doctorate from Duke, Louise has taught at Appalachian State, Carson-Newman, the University of Georgia, and North Carolina Central, where she was a professor of English and for many years chaired the English department.

A member of the Lumbee Tribe, she is the former chair of the North Carolina Advisory Council on Indian Education.  She has been recognized by the University of North Carolina-Pembroke with an Outstanding Alumna Award and serves on the Board of Directors of UNCP’s foundation.  With her late husband, Waltz who was also a longtime Torch member, she established an endowment for the development of American Indian Studies. 

She is an active congregant of St. Stephen’s Episcopal in Durham, where she sings in the choir: an emerita member of the Board of Directors of the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke, which champions Southern storytellers: and a member of the UNC press’s Board of Directors.  She has supported student scholarships as former president of North Carolina circle of International Order of The King’s Daughters.

There is a wonderful 2024 interview with Louise conducted by the American Indian Heritage Commission that you can watch here:

Tap this to view the interview