When she stepped down from Cato’s board of directors in 2017, Ethelmae’s 35 years of stewardship made her the longest-serving director in the Institute’s history. During that time, her leadership and generosity helped Cato grow more than thirty-fold: from an organization with a small budget and a handful of scholars to a leading policy institution whose ideas, influence, and impact reach millions of people worldwide. Her steadfast dedication to liberty and individual dignity are reflected in the reputation for integrity and adherence to principle Cato earned during her tenure as a director and continues to safeguard.
But beyond her service and generosity to Cato, Ethelmae was an inspiration as a business executive, mother, philanthropist, and community leader. When her father’s health began to fail, Ethelmae, as his only child, took the reins of the company he had founded in 1944: TAMKO Building Products. This wasn’t a typical role for a young woman in the early 1950s, but one Ethelmae assumed with characteristic humility. “I never intended to do it,” she said, “I just knew somebody had to, and I was the only one.”
As a friend once observed, Ethelmae was an unusual—but powerful—combination of grace and determination. She only reluctantly stepped out of negotiations with the Teamsters union the evening before she gave birth to her first child in 1956. (And I was once told she wasn’t all too happy with the settlement reached while she was in labor.) She ultimately spent over 70 years with TAMKO, during which time the company achieved sustained long-term growth. She assumed the position of chairman upon the death of her mother and served in that role for 38 years until the age of 92.
In 1960, Ethelmae founded the E.L. Craig Foundation in honor of her father, and later the J.P. Humphreys Foundation in memory of her husband. Over six decades the foundations have granted generous and charitable support to organizations promoting individual rights, personal freedom, and free enterprise; but also to education and local civic and community projects (including substantial resources to help TAMKO’s hometown of Joplin, Missouri, rebuild after a devastating tornado in 2011). Ethelmae’s efforts and resources also helped spark right-to-work reform across the country, allowing millions of American workers to benefit by substituting voluntary, for compulsory, unionism.
Ethelmae’s philanthropy reflects her belief in the power of individuals and civil society—rather than government—to provide for the critical needs of oneself, each other, and our communities. Her very life story is an embodiment of her philosophy in action. For while I can’t stop thinking of her as a truly extraordinary individual, it’s more likely she’s an example of the extraordinariness that’s within each of us ordinary people. And liberty is the oxygen that gives life to such potential, providing each of us the ability to, like Ethelmae, leave our mark on the world.
All of Ethelmae’s friends here at Cato join me in extending our heartfelt condolences to her family, to her colleagues at TAMKO, to her friends and neighbors in Joplin and beyond, and to all her friends and admirers in the liberty community. We are saddened today, but we take comfort in remembering her long and well-lived life.
