(under President Truman).
I had worked with Zonta International to
establish a new lecture series at the
university—one that focused on women who
were leaders (or leaders who were women,
whichever you prefer). You may know that
Zonta is an international organization of
women in business. We agreed that the
lecture series should be named for Georgia
Neese Gray because she was such a fine
example of leadership and success and
because she lived right there among us.
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Georgia was a Kansas
native whose family lived in the little town
of Richland and whose father operated the
town bank, lumber company, general store,
grain elevator, and a number of tenant farms
in the area. After graduating from
Washburn University, Georgia went to New
York City to study acting (classmates were
such as Spencer Tracy and Thelma Ritter).
She was a beauty on the New York stage and
earned her living in the theatre for over
ten years. Then came the Great Depression.
There was no work on the stage—and
Georgia’s father called her home to
Kansas to help with the family
businesses (she had no brothers and
her one sister “had no head for
business”). She learned |
| banking, farm management, and
the grain business, lumber and
general store management. When
her father died a few years later,
Georgia was in charge of it all. |
And Georgia did it all
well. She also was politically active in
the Democratic Party (I liked her anyway).
When Truman’s first U. S. Treasurer died in
an accident, the President appointed Georgia
in 1949, and she was this nation’s first
woman Treasurer. Her name for most of her
service was Georgia Neese Clark, and that is
the signature you will see on currency from
that period. She married Andy Gray, a
Washington publicist and almost as
fascinating a person as Georgia, just at
the end of her time as Treasurer.
When the Republicans
came into power with the Eisenhower
Administration, Georgia’s Department was
audited, and the audit showed a
shortage---of ten dollars (total). Georgia
wrote a personal check! She continued her
relationship with the Trumans for as long as
they lived.
But back to my story.
One of the pleasures connected to the
lecture series we established was that on
the evening of each lecture I hosted a
dinner for Georgia, the speaker, and the
local Zonta officers. I got to sit at the
head of the table, with Georgia on my right
and the speaker on my left—and so got to
hear their conversation.
Early in the series our
speaker was Harriet Goldhor Lerner,
distinguished psychiatrist at the Menninger
Hospital and New York Times best selling
author of a number of books, the first
being, I think, Dance of Intimacy: A
Woman’s Guide to Courageous Acts of Change
in Key Relationships. Dr.Lerner was a
youngish woman who I think would not have
objected to being described as a feminist as
we knew them in those days. Very bright,
very articulate, very in-control. She and
Georgia were interesting dinner partners.
At one point Dr. Lerner
leaned forward in her chair and said, “Oh,
Mrs. Gray, you are having such an
interesting, exciting, productive life—ten
years on the American stage, then broad
success in business, first woman Treasurer
of the United States, so much accomplished.
How were you able to create your life’s plan
to get all of this achieved?”
Georgia was in her 80’s
in those days, and wore two very large
hearing aids, but she heard the question
very clearly. Her response was “Plan? What
plan? There was no plan.
All through my life I
saw things that had to be done—that could be
done—and I set out on the spot to do them.”
The lecture that
evening was a great success with an audience
of over 1500. I had to seat some of them in
the aisles, some on the stage of the concert
hall and just hope that the Fire Marshall
wouldn’t walk in. But I had heard the
important message from Georgia at the dinner
table.
Get yourself educated. Equip yourself with
the knowledge and skills you will need.
Then keep your options open, watch for
things that need to be done, and set out on
the spot to do them. 
Please click here for additional information
or if you would like to contact the
author of this article, Dr. Robert L. Burns. Thank you!
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