Lillian Frye (née Rowe) was born in Rowan County, North Carolina on May 5, 1873. Frye was only the second woman in the state of North Carolina to be admitted to the bar (1911). In addition to practicing law with the firm Frye, Gantt and Frye, she was active in the North Carolina Federation of Women's Clubs and in the establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. She married Amos Monroe Frye in 1895. She died in Bryson City on June 11, 1957.