Upon taking office as Duke’s president in April 1970, Terry Sanford quickly discovered he had inherited a very reliable gatekeeper.
Christine Mimms had served the previous five Duke presidents and quickly became Sanford’s right hand in the organization of his schedule. And she learned to be flexible as well. Accustomed to controlling access to the university president, Mimms found in Sanford a leader who embraced drop-in visits from students.
Mimms would serve six Duke presidents in all – beginning in 1935 when she came to Durham to work for then-President William Few, then stayed for presidents Robert Flowers, Hollis Edens, J. Deryl Hart, Douglas Knight and finally Sanford, with whom she worked until her retirement in 1977.
Orphaned as a youngster, Mimms was raised in Scotland County, NC, by an aunt. She graduated from Gibson High School and attended Meredith College in Raleigh before receiving business training at Kings Business College, also in Raleigh.
She married S.C. Mimms in 1966, was active with Watts Street Baptist Church and the Durham Theater Guild and was a member of the Allied Arts’ original board of directors.
Christine Mimms died in 1990. Her collection of correspondence, clippings, photos and other documents from 1946-1986 is held at Duke libraries.
