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Caroline Mary Stoel, nee Phillips, was born in Lexington, North Carolina, in 1914. She graduated fourth in her class at Duke University Law School. While at Duke law, she met fellow student Thomas B. Stoel, and they married in 1938; they later had four children. The couple settled in Portland, Oregon, and Caroline Stoel passed the Oregon bar in 1938. She was the only woman to do so that year. Due to discrimination, she was unable to practice law. She instead worked as a secretary for the Unitarian Church for many years. She later earned a master's degree in history at Portland State University. She was a published author and was active with the League of Women Voters of Portland, Planned Parenthood of the Columbia-Willamette, the Columbia River Gorge Trust, the Oregon Historical Society, and the PSU Foundation. She was the first woman to be president of the World Affairs Council. She was also chair of the Nature Conservancy's Oregon chapter and the Oregon Council for the Humanities, and a founding board member of the U.S. District Court of Oregon Historical Society and Portland Center Stage. She died in 2007.