Martha Layne Collins, the 56th Governor of Kentucky, at Heathrow Airport in London, England, December 1984. (Photo by Crisby/Daily Express/Helton Archive/Getty Images)
Martha Layne Collins, the only woman to serve as Kentucky governor, revolutionized the state's economy through her purchase of Toyota Motor Manufacturing. She died at 3 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 1, in Lexington. She is 88 years old.
Her husband, Dr. Bill Collins, said his wife died in her sleep at Richmond Place, a retirement community in Lexington where they had lived.
“I was with her. We had a lady who was in hospice care, with caregivers coming in and out. She died peacefully. She lived an extraordinary life,” he said.
Her extraordinary life began when she was born on December 7, 1936, in Shelby County. She served as governor from 1983 to 1987, when Kentucky governors were limited to one-term terms.
In 1984, Collins was considered a candidate for Vice President of the United States, running as his running partner against Democratic presidential candidate Walter Mondale, who chose Geraldine Ferraro.
Collins was elected lieutenant governor in 1979, serving simultaneously with Democratic Gov. John Y. Brown Jr.
Collins got off to a rocky start as governor but excelled after his first two years, taking advantage of financial incentives to move Japanese automaker Toyota's largest manufacturing plant to Georgetown in 1986, a development that remains a mainstay of Kentucky's economy today.
Collins also successfully promoted improvements in education. In June 1985, she launched a plan to raise teacher pay by 5 percent, reduce class sizes, fund construction projects, provide aides for kindergarten classrooms and help raise more funds for poor school districts.
After leaving office, she served as president of St. Catherine's College in Springfield from 1990 to 1996 and later taught leadership courses at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Dr Collins said their children Steve and Marla would decide on arrangements. Steve is the director of Hall-Taylor Funeral Home in downtown Shelbyville and his grandfather, Martha Layne'His father, Everett Hall, performed the surgery.
This story will be updated.