Gwyneth B. Davis Public Service Award

Gwyneth B. Davis was a past president and board member of NCAWA. She died on June 16, 1988 following a three-year fight with cancer. In the time that she lived and worked in North Carolina, she served as a staff attorney with Legal Services of Northwest North Carolina in Winston-Salem and devoted her considerable energies and talents to founding single-handedly the Forsyth County Women Attorneys Association and working toward the objectives of NCAWA at both the state and local levels. As Ellen Gerber described her, “Gwyn was my comrade in arms against the forces that would oppress women... The strongest image is of Gwyn the peacemaker... Gwyn always seemed the neutral party that could thread her way through the warring factions... Another one of Gwyn’s accomplishments was her work to improve the condition of women throughout North Carolina. Gwyn contributed an important effort to write and lobby for the passage of the state’s fi rst equitable distribution law... She was unfailingly generous in her view of people... She cared deeply and had a great commitment to helping her clients. She also was dedicated to improving the lot of women in general and women attorneys...”

 

Each year, NCAWA presents the public service award in memory and honor of Gwyneth B. Davis, for the promotion of the participation of women attorneys in the legal profession and the rights of women under the law. The following is the list of individuals who have been honored each year as distinguished examples of the philosophy behind the award.

Congratulations to this year's Gwyneth B. Davis Award Recipient, Susan M. Dotson-Smith, "Smitty"

 

 

2010    Barbara (Bonnie) B. Weyher

2008    Justice Robin E. Hudson

2007    Stella Boswell, Judge Joyce Hamilton, Sally H. Scherer

2006    Justice Patricia Timmons-Goodson

2005    Robin L. Ames, Michelle Frances Robertson

2004    Sorien K. Schmidt

2003    Anne R. Slifkin

2002    Senator Ellie Kinnaird, Anne Winner

2001    Elizabeth F. Kuniholm

2000    Hon. Catherine C. Eagles

1999    E. Ann Christian

1998    Bertha (Bea) Holt

1997    Melinda Lawrence, Senator William Nelson Martin, Jennie Leake Hemrick

1996    Rep. Eva Clayton, Hon. Linda McGee, Elaine Marshall, Suzanne Reynolds

1995    Marcia H. Armstrong, Lynn Burleson, Allyson Duncan

1994    Hon. Janice McKenzie Cole, Jane Madden, Ellen Gelbin

1993    Dorothy Bernholz, Sharon Parker, Kathryn Jones-Cooper

1992    Hon. Patricia Love, Hon. Jacqueline Morris-Goodson

1991    Brenda Campbell, Mary Wright

1990    Ann C. Barnes, Charlotte Brody, Anne Mackie

1989    Russell Walker, Judith Wegner

1988    Mary Margaret Flynn, Pamela Gann, James B. McMillan

1987    Hon. Jane Harper, Pam Silberman, Sharon Thompson

1986    Gwyneth B. Davis, Annie Brown Kennedy, Hon. Sarah Parker

1985    Brenda McGhee, Sue Perry, Leslie Winner

1984    J. Ray Elinburg, James B. Hunt, Carol Spruill, Wilma Woodard

1983    Katharine Robinson Everett, Elreta Alexander Ralston, Carolyn McAllaster

1982    Ruth Easterling, Karen Galloway, Rachel Gray, Jane Patterson, Ellen Gerber

1981    Meyressa Schoonmaker, Carolyn McAllaster