Lucille Hunter never taught in the school that bears her name. She died in the year before it opened its doors. From public records, her contemporaries, and information from her great niece, we know she was born Lucille M. Smith in Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1863, to her parents, Louisa and Peter J. Smith, who were slaves. Sometime after the Civil War, the family migrated north to Boston, Massachusetts, where Mrs. Hunter attended public school and went on to attend Hampton Institute in Virginia. In 1888, she married Wiley B. Hunter, a Wake County teacher and later principal of the Method School. They lived at 316 Cabarrus Street in Raleigh. The Hunters had a son, W. Kendall, who died in a bicycle accident before he was 16. Mrs. Hunter taught in Raleigh's segregated black schools for about 40 years. In 1899, when she was teaching third grade at the Washington School, she was listed in the Raleigh Public Schools Annual Report as a "colored" teacher with a monthly salary of $30. At that time, the school system had one salary schedule for black teachers and another for white teachers. At the time of her death, Mrs. Hunter was teaching at the Crosby-Garfield School in Raleigh. Raleigh resident Pete Wilder, whose mother occasionally cooked lunch for Mrs. Hunter before a cafeteria was added to the Crosby-Garfield school. He described Mrs. Hunter as having "gray hair that lit up her entire face."
Before 2002, the school had no pictures of Mrs. Hunter to confirm Mr. Wilder's observation. The absence of an image of Mrs. Hunter at the school had always bothered many Hunter parents and students. While active in the PTA, Susan Graebe recalled several conversations with parents who longed to have a portrait of Mrs. Hunter. One of those parents, Susan Reinhard, who also served as Hunter PTA president, always felt a great appreciation for the significance of Hunter's history. She and Ms. Graebe co-chaired a 75th Anniversary Celebration for Hunter for the 2002-2003 school year and sought to obtain a portrait as part of that celebration. With the help of Jean Wilder and her friend Cornelia Boston, they found Dorothy C. Smith, Mrs. Hunter's great niece, and they learned more about the school's namesake. "Obviously, Aunt Lucille was born into slavery," Ms. Smith wrote in a letter to Mrs. Reinhard, "but she and her siblings were achievers." Mrs. Hunter's family included doctors and teachers. As adults, Mrs. Hunter, her siblings, and many cousins left Boston and relocated either to New York, where Ms. Smith currently lives, or returned to North Carolina. The most precious information Ms. Smith sent was a copy of a photograph of Lucille Hunter. "There is a wonderful serenity about her countenance," Ms. Smith wrote. "According to Mr. Pete Wilder's recollections, her gray hair lit up her entire face. This is certainly evident in the picture."
Mrs. Reinhard and Karen Brannan took the photograph and commissioned a charcoal portrait of Mrs. Hunter. Thai-born artist "Woody"Chaimongkol, known as "Woody Charcoal," produced the serene portrait,and Garner framer Warner Powell provided an appropriately ornate frame at cost. The vibrant portrait is now proudly displayed outside the school's media center-an image of the school's namesake finally shines at the school. Dorothy Lane, who taught at Crosby-Garfield school at the same time as Mrs. Hunter, remembered her as a petite woman with a fine sense of humor and a love of poetry. "She used to love to tell stories and recite poetry, especially the poems of Paul Lawrence Dunbar," Mrs. Lane recalled.
Bertha Mae Edwards, in her autobiography, The Little Place and the Little Girl, remembers "Mrs. Hunter could recite Dunbar's poems with such fervor as to make one spellbound." From all accounts, Lucille Hunter's favorite recitation was Dunbar's "Little Brown Baby." She had other attributes as well. Ms. Lane, who was also acquainted with her through the Presbyterian Church, where both were members, characterized her as thoughtful and caring: "In those days, everyone was poor. Mrs. Hunter was always distributing clothes to the needy through our church."
Lucille Hunter died suddenly at the age of 63. On December 23, 1926, the following obituary appeared in The (Raleigh) News and Observer under the caption, "WELL-KNOWN TEACHER DIES HERE": Lucille M. Hunter, one of the best-known teachers of the state, died yesterday evening about six o'clock as the result of an attack of apoplexy. She met her classes at the Crosby-Garfield school on Friday as usual and was quite cheerful. She had taught in the schools of the State for over 40 years and her husband, Wiley B. Hunter, is a teacher in the county schools. She was well known as an elocutionist, being in demand for recitations in Negro bdialect. Funeral arrangements will be announced later.
Mrs. Hunter is buried at Mount Hope Cemetery, located south of downtown Raleigh.