FRYEBURG – Carolyn Chance Howlett, 89, pioneering female lawyer and civic leader, died on Sept. 29, in Fryeburg.

She was one of only three female lawyers in her class at the Yale Law School in 1938. She had previously graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in economics from Mt. Holyoke College in 1935. She was admitted to the bar in New York and New Jersey and practiced law in New York City until she married Duncan Howlett and moved to New Bedford, Mass., in 1943.

She was a loyal and effective supporter of Duncan’s career as a Unitarian minister and eventually rose to prominence in her own right serving in various positions in liberal religious organizations, culminating in her appointment as the first woman president of the International Association for Religious Freedom.

During her presidency, she made a number of international trips, including several to Communist countries in Eastern Europe promoting religious freedom. She was honored for these achievements with an honorary doctorate from the University of Chicago.

During her retirement years, she lived in Center Lovell with her husband, where she was active in community affairs. She served as president and worked on the board of directors of the Lovell Library for eight years. She served on the Bridgton Hospital board of directors for ten years.

Her husband of 60 years died in 2003.

She is survived by a brother, R. Robinson Chance; her four children, Susan Hasty, of Portland, Albert, of Falls Church, Va., Richard, of Burke, Va., and Carolyn Korth, of Center Lovell; ten grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.