This year in which I have served as your President has seen such great changes in the life of our people that it seems much longer than twelve months since we met together in Tarboro. At that time our country had been at war for almost six months but we had not begun to suffer the derangement of our personal lives which has come increasingly upon us. Today as we meet together in Raleigh our bodies are disciplined by many material restrictions which the war has brought, but much more important than that, our souls have been and are being disciplined and tried by separation from loved ones. The thoughts of many here today will wander I am sure from time to time to far away places, be it Africa or Australia or the seven seas. Some of our members have suffered the loss of a loved one in the armed services and for them our hearts yearn and our prayers are offered.

(Source:

Margaret G. Holmes [Mrs. Urban T. Holmes], President’s Address to the Woman’s Auxiliary, 1943 Annual Report, pp. 8-9)