Carolyn P. Dubose

Author, reporter, and public relations specialist, Carolyn Powell DuBose, was born in Enfield, NC on January 20, 1933. She was the only child of the late Robert L. Powell and Laura Bell Powell, who owned and operated several successful businesses that served as pillars of the black community. She departed peacefully on June 5, 2026 in Arlington, Virginia. As a child, Carolyn enjoyed paper dolls, bicycling, conversing with her many friends, playing the piano, and singing (as a soprano in choir). A very talented and popular student in grade school, Carolyn early on learned French, and was thrice selected to be May Queen, as well as eighth grade valedictorian, and salutatorian of her high school class. Toward the end of high school, she was presented at the Debutante Ball sponsored by the Delta Sigma Theta (DST) Sorority, Inc.—a turning point in her life—when she and her future husband, George Howard DuBose, Jr., met as teenagers. This also marked the beginning of her long and loving relationship with the DST Sorority.

Upon graduating from high school in 1950, Carolyn attended Hampton Institute (now Hampton University). Carolyn often reminisced with friends and family about her college years. While there, she joined the reporting staff of the Hampton Script, the Gamma Iota Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., a literary club for young authors, and the Phyllis Wheatley Social Club. Carolyn encouraged her mother to complete her degree, and in her sophomore year, her mother joined her, enrolling as a freshman. The two became fondly known as the “mother and daughter team.” Just days before returning to Hampton for her senior year in 1953, Carolyn married her high school sweetheart, George, who had been drafted into the U.S. Army. She graduated in 1954 and moved to South Carolina in 1955 where she and George started their family. In 1959, Carolyn, George and their small, but growing, family relocated to Arlington, Virginia where she secured a job at the Pentagon within the Department of Defense, a position she held for twenty years.

Carolyn later discovered that free-lance writing would allow her to return to her long held dream of becoming a reporter. She became a regular contributor to the Star, the Washington Post, Ebony magazine, and her beloved AFRO-American newspaper. She was also commissioned to write documentary scripts for the U.S. Information Agency, served as a staff writer for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and acted as a public relations specialist for the American Freedom Train Foundation, Ofield Dukes & Associates, and the Department of Transportation.

In 1997, Carolyn founded Barton Publishing House Inc. and a year later published her landmark book, The Untold Story of Charles Diggs. Carolyn had served as a press secretary for two members of Congress and chose to write a behind-the-scenes account on the illustrious first black congressman from Michigan. She had a uniquely privileged vantage point on his career and contributions; one reviewer thanked her for providing a “captivating” account of that momentous era for posterity.

In addition to being an avid reader, Carolyn was a devoted member of Trinity Episcopal Church, the NOVA alumnae Chapters of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and the NOVA

Chapter of the National Hampton Alumni Association, which she co-founded. Carolyn also traveled extensively, highlights including Rome, Paris, and London where she was able to realize another dream of visiting Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and his childhood home. Always of sharp mind and good humor, she was appreciated for her wisdom, sense of style (a chic hat for every occasion), discretion, and encouragement of others. Carolyn, proud mother, grandmother, and great grandmother, was a model of grace, quiet strength, respect, refinement, dignity, wisdom and community for her children, grandchildren, and countless friends and admirers who will miss her always.

She was preceded in death by her late husband, George Howard DuBose, Jr,; brothers-in-law Marion T. DuBose (late Gwendolyn) and Jacques C. DuBose.; and beloved stepfather, Chester McWilliams (late life marriage).

Left to cherish her memory are her daughters Sharon D. DuBose, Jo Hilda DuBose Spence, Esq., Regina A. DuBose , and son George H. DuBose III (Judy); sisters-in-law Kitrena DuBose Foster (NY) and Tullulah DuBose Pickens (CT); grandchildren, Elliott G. Lee (Ashley), George Brennan DuBose, Christina E. Lee, Briana L.DuBose, and Carla M. Spence Zatratz (Chris); great grandchild, Callaway Zatratz; nieces Geowana Price, Terri Foster, Jihan Key (Kendrick), Nakia Alexander (Wesley), and Amanda Pickens-Ewell, Esq. (Quincy); nephews, Xavier DuBose (Van), Donte Foster, Jacques DuBose (Ruth) and William Pickens, Jr.; a host of great nieces, nephews, and cousins, and many lifelong and dear friends.

In lieu of flowers, please donate to: Reading Is Fundamental Northern Virginia, Inc. (P.O. Box 7012, Arlington, VA 22207-0012, (703) 528-3763 https://donorbox.org/donate-to-rif-of-nova).

Visitation will be held at Trinity Episcopal Church, 2217 Columbia Pike Arlington, VA on Saturday, June 27, 2026, at 9:00AM, followed by a memorial service at 10:00AM. Burial will take place at the conclusion of worship at Columbia Gardens Cemetery, 3411 Arlington Blvd. Arlington, VA. The repast will follow in a different location yet to be determined.