Alumni House Becomes Forlines House

Building honors former trustee, DAA chair

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Durham, NC -- Duke University’s Alumni House was named after John A. Forlines Jr., a 1939 Duke graduate, former trustee and past president of the Duke Alumni Association (DAA), in a ceremony Saturday at the building.

The newly named John A. Forlines Jr. House was one of the first “faculty houses” designed by Horace Trumbauer and built in the early 1930s. It was the home of Duke President Robert L. Flowers from 1935 to 1951 and was occupied by Undergraduate Admissions until 1976, when the Office of Alumni Affairs moved in.

“This is a great day for Duke University, the alumni association and John Forlines, whom we’re here to honor today,” said Sterly L. Wilder, executive director of alumni affairs, at a gathering of about 150 friends and family members of Forlines, trustees, faculty members, administrators and 18 former DAA presidents.

Last year, Forlines received Duke’s highest honor, the University Medal for Distinguished Meritorious Service. He earned one of the state’s highest accolades when he was inducted into the Order of the Long Leaf Pine. In 1994, he received the Distinguished Alumni Award, the DAA’s highest honor.

In 1954, Forlines moved to Granite Falls, N.C., to reinvigorate the ailing Bank of Granite. As its leader for 52 years, he turned one of the state’s smallest banks into the best known and most profitable community banks in the nation. He has been inducted into the North Carolina Banking Hall of Fame and the North Carolina Business Hall of Fame.

At Saturday’s ceremony, Robert K. Steel, chair of Duke’s board of trustees, lauded Forlines, listing his most important traits: energy, optimism, graciousness and judgment. “He has always been able to knit his experiences together and provide good judgment.” Steel said.

Steel unveiled photographs of the Forlines House plaque installed at the building’s front door and the John A. Forlines, Jr. House sign on the street, and read the renaming resolution approved by the board of trustees. Forlines said that he was “overwhelmed” and that “so many people deserve this more than I do.”

Forlines’ Duke connection began when he was 10 years old, he said. “I lived two blocks from Duke, and I became batboy mascot for the Blue Devil baseball team,” Forlines said.

He graduated from Duke in 1939, served as DAA president from 1970 to 71, and as a university trustee from 1974 to 1990. He has been on the board of DUMAC, which manages the university’s endowment fund.

In addition to his work with Duke, Forlines chaired the North Carolina Community College board and the board of Caldwell County Community College and Technical Institute. He oversaw a campaign to build Caldwell County’s civic center and has helped promote the Caldwell County Hospice.