Jeanette Hyde
Jeanette Hyde went from Miss Yadkin County to Madam Ambassador.
Hyde, who died Monday at age 86, was described in her family’s obituary as “a trailblazing diplomat, political activist, businesswoman, entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist.”
She was a devoted Democrat, a fierce advocate for women in politics and a tireless fundraiser – for Bill and Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, Terry Sanford and generations of candidates from Jim Hunt to Rachel Hunt.
Stylish, striking and soft-spoken, she – along with her late husband, Dr. Wallace Hyde – probably set a Guinness world record for hosting political fundraisers.
In 1994, President Clinton appointed her U.S. Ambassador to seven Caribbean nations. For four years, she forged friendships for America, fought drug trafficking and aided disaster relief.
She was high school class president, a basketball player and a beauty queen. She was a counselor and a social worker, a trustee and a generous donor to Wake Forest University and numerous other universities, causes and charities.
She was instrumental in the early success of Golden Corral restaurants, owned The Foxy Lady clothing stores in Fayetteville and was a co-founder and board member of Triangle Bank and North State Bank. She was the first woman on the State Board of Transportation.
Along the way, she had tea with Prince (now King) Charles, completed three Outward Bound courses, went tandem parachuting on her 74th birthday, rode a camel in Egypt and a donkey in Jordan, floated in the Dead Sea and learned to read, write and speak Greek.
Every North Carolina Democrat has a Jeanette story. Here’s mine.
In the summer of 1984, we were helping Governor Hunt prepare for debates in his race against Senator Jesse Helms. We needed somewhere to do debate prep.
A young fundraiser on staff, Tom Hendrickson, knew a place. His wife Jill was Jeanette’s niece. Jeanette let us use her airy, roomy home in Raleigh’s Hayes Barton neighborhood.
We set up in her sunroom with a camera, TV, video recorder and mock stage. Staffers sat around the room and spread piles of notes, research and issue papers on the furniture.
We had a good morning session, then broke for lunch.
But Jeanette wasn’t one to serve sandwiches, chips and Cokes. She led us to the dining room and laid out platters of salad, bread, meats, fruit, potatoes, vegetables and, of course, rich desserts. No alcohol, fortunately.
By that point in the campaign, most of us were stress-eating, so we proceeded to stuff our faces, then dragged our laden bellies and leaden brains back to the sunroom.
Our afternoon session wasn’t so productive. Heads were nodding. At one point, I looked across the room and saw our campaign manager, Joe Grimsley, fast asleep in his chair.
But it worked. A few days later, Hunt pummeled Helms around the debate stage. After it was over, Helms’ political guru Tom Ellis muttered to Carter Wrenn, “It doesn’t get much worse than that.”
It was a high point in a losing campaign.
And it wasn’t the first or the last time that a room full of Democrats left Jeanette’s fired up and fueled up for battle.
There surely is a special place for her on the Blue side of Heaven.
Jeanette Hyde
Jeanette Hyde went from Miss Yadkin County to Madam Ambassador.
Hyde, who died Monday at age 86, was described in her family’s obituary as “a trailblazing diplomat, political activist, businesswoman, entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist.”
She was a devoted Democrat, a fierce advocate for women in politics and a tireless fundraiser – for Bill and Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, Terry Sanford and generations of candidates from Jim Hunt to Rachel Hunt.
Stylish, striking and soft-spoken, she – along with her late husband, Dr. Wallace Hyde – probably set a Guinness world record for hosting political fundraisers.
In 1994, President Clinton appointed her U.S. Ambassador to seven Caribbean nations. For four years, she forged friendships for America, fought drug trafficking and aided disaster relief.
She was high school class president, a basketball player and a beauty queen. She was a counselor and a social worker, a trustee and a generous donor to Wake Forest University and numerous other universities, causes and charities.
She was instrumental in the early success of Golden Corral restaurants, owned The Foxy Lady clothing stores in Fayetteville and was a co-founder and board member of Triangle Bank and North State Bank. She was the first woman on the State Board of Transportation.
Along the way, she had tea with Prince (now King) Charles, completed three Outward Bound courses, went tandem parachuting on her 74th birthday, rode a camel in Egypt and a donkey in Jordan, floated in the Dead Sea and learned to read, write and speak Greek.
Every North Carolina Democrat has a Jeanette story. Here’s mine.
In the summer of 1984, we were helping Governor Hunt prepare for debates in his race against Senator Jesse Helms. We needed somewhere to do debate prep.
A young fundraiser on staff, Tom Hendrickson, knew a place. His wife Jill was Jeanette’s niece. Jeanette let us use her airy, roomy home in Raleigh’s Hayes Barton neighborhood.
We set up in her sunroom with a camera, TV, video recorder and mock stage. Staffers sat around the room and spread piles of notes, research and issue papers on the furniture.
We had a good morning session, then broke for lunch.
But Jeanette wasn’t one to serve sandwiches, chips and Cokes. She led us to the dining room and laid out platters of salad, bread, meats, fruit, potatoes, vegetables and, of course, rich desserts. No alcohol, fortunately.
By that point in the campaign, most of us were stress-eating, so we proceeded to stuff our faces, then dragged our laden bellies and leaden brains back to the sunroom.
Our afternoon session wasn’t so productive. Heads were nodding. At one point, I looked across the room and saw our campaign manager, Joe Grimsley, fast asleep in his chair.
But it worked. A few days later, Hunt pummeled Helms around the debate stage. After it was over, Helms’ political guru Tom Ellis muttered to Carter Wrenn, “It doesn’t get much worse than that.”
It was a high point in a losing campaign.
And it wasn’t the first or the last time that a room full of Democrats left Jeanette’s fired up and fueled up for battle.
There surely is a special place for her on the Blue side of Heaven.