Georgia Neese Clark Gray (January 27, 1898 – October 26, 1995) was an American actress and banker who served as the 29th
treasurer of the United States
The treasurer of the United States is an officer in the United States Department of the Treasury who serves as custodian and trustee of the federal government's collateral assets and the supervisor of the department's currency and coinage produc ...
from 1949 to 1953, and was the first woman to hold that office.
Early life
Georgia Neese was born in
Richland, Kansas
Richland is currently a ghost town in southeastern Shawnee County, Kansas, United States.
History
In October 1854, Charles Matney settled in the area that was to become Richland, near the confluence of Camp Creek with the Wakarusa River. In 1857 ...
, the daughter of Albert Neese, a farmer and businessman, and Ella Sullivan Neese, a stay-at-home mother.
Her father, a
self-made man
"Self-made man" is a classic phrase coined on February 2, 1842 by Henry Clay in the United States Senate, to describe individuals whose success lay within the individuals themselves, not with outside conditions. Benjamin Franklin, one of the Foun ...
, had prospered in the years before her birth and become the town's leading citizen, owning much of its property as well as the bank and general store. The family owned homes in Richland and in nearby Topeka where Neese attended high school graduating in 1917. Neese was a Presbyterian but she briefly attended
Bethany College, an
Episcopalian
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the l ...
school for women in
Topeka
Topeka ( ; Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeast Kansas, in the Central Un ...
, before transferring to
Washburn University
Washburn University (WU) is a public university in Topeka, Kansas, United States. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as professional programs in law and business. Washburn has 550 faculty members, who teach more than 6,100 u ...
.
Neese majored in economics at Washburn and was a member of several student organizations. She was president of the drama club and a member of the Upsilon chapter of
Alpha Phi
Alpha Phi International Women's Fraternity (, also known as APhi) is an international sorority with 172 active chapters and over 250,000 initiated members.
Founded at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York on September 18, 1872, it is the fo ...
. Determined to become an actress, she moved to New York City following graduation in 1921 and enrolled at the Franklin Sargent School of Dramatic Art.
Acting career
Georgia Neese began her acting career with various stock companies. Gray pursued an acting career from 1921 to 1931, living in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, getting to know
Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes MacArthur ( Brown; October 10, 1900 – March 17, 1993) was an American actress whose career spanned 80 years. She eventually received the nickname "First Lady of American Theatre" and was the second person and first woman to have w ...
and
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...
, touring the country and earning $500 a week. When the
Depression and the onset of "talkies," motion pictures with sound, cut short her stage career, she returned home to care for her sick father.
Family business
Gray started working at her father's Richland State Bank as an assistant cashier in 1935. At the death of her father in 1937, she inherited control and the presidency of Richland State Bank, as well as the family's general store,
grain elevator
A grain elevator is a facility designed to stockpile or store grain. In the grain trade, the term "grain elevator" also describes a tower containing a bucket elevator or a pneumatic conveyor, which scoops up grain from a lower level and deposits ...
, lumber yard, insurance agency, many farms and other real estate.
Political background
Gray was active in the state Democratic Party and was elected
Democratic National Committee
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the governing body of the United States Democratic Party. The committee coordinates strategy to support Democratic Party candidates throughout the country for local, state, and national office, as well a ...
member from Kansas in 1936, a position she held until 1964. She was an articulate and well-liked representative of the party and an early supporter of
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
. It was this support that brought about her nomination as the first woman to be Treasurer of the United States from 1949 to 1953.
Later career
The entire town of Richland was purchased by the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
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in the late 1960s as a part of the land acquired for Clinton Lake. By 1974, the town was vacated and the remaining buildings were demolished shortly thereafter. After the project was announced, the Government was slow to proceed leaving property owners unsure if they should maintain their properties and unable to sell in order to relocate. Gray played a significant role in urging Congress to provide funds for the project so property owners could get on with their lives.
She relocated the Richland State Bank to Topeka in 1964 and renamed it the Capital City State Bank,
which was later changed to Capital City Bank. By the end of the twentieth century, it had established several branches throughout the capital city.
Personal life
She married her manager, George M. Clark, in 1929. Although the marriage ended in a divorce in the mid-1940s, she continued to be known as Georgia Neese Clark for a time even after her second marriage. In 1953, she married Andrew J. Gray, a journalist and press agent.
Georgia Neese Clark Gray had no children.
Posthumous
Gray died on October 26, 1995, aged 97, and is interred at Pleasant Hill Cemetery, located at approximately 87th and Ratner Road, 1.5 miles south and 3 miles east of Berryton, Kansas.
The Georgia Neese Gray Performance Hall at the
Topeka Performing Arts Center
The Topeka Performing Arts Center is a 2,425-capacity performing arts center located in Topeka, Kansas
Topeka ( ; Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the seat of Shawnee County. It ...
is named after her.
The
Georgia Neese Gray Award
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
is reserved for presentation to Kansans who have served in elected office at the municipal and/or county level and who have performed outstanding service to their local community in the pursuit of the principles of the
Kansas Democratic Party
The Kansas Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the state of Kansas and one of two major parties in the state, alongside the Republicans. The chair of the party is Vicki Hiatt.
The party currently controls the state's gove ...
. Such service commends a lengthy and broad participation in public service endeavors to the city, county and state. This award shall be considered the highest honor which can be bestowed by the Kansas Democratic Party to its municipal and county elected officials.
On February 6, 2008, she was inducted into the Topeka Business Hall of Fame.
![Georgia Neese Clark sig](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/Georgia_Neese_Clark_sig.jpg)
In 2016, Georgia Neese Gray inducted into the Kansas Business Hall of Fame.
["Class Notes," ''The Ichabod'', Winter 2017, p. 32. ''The Ichabod'' is the magazine of the ]Washburn University
Washburn University (WU) is a public university in Topeka, Kansas, United States. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as professional programs in law and business. Washburn has 550 faculty members, who teach more than 6,100 u ...
Alumni Association.
References
External links
Harry S. Truman Presidential Museum and LibraryTopeka Performing Arts CenterWashington Post article
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark Gay, Georgia Neese
1898 births
1995 deaths
American bankers
American silent film actresses
People from Shawnee County, Kansas
Treasurers of the United States
Truman administration personnel
Kansas Democrats
Women in Kansas politics
American women bankers
20th-century American actresses
Washburn University alumni
Actresses from Kansas