Martha Carol Wilkinson (née Stafford; August 28, 1941 – May 7, 2014) was an American businesswoman and politician. She served as the First Lady of

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

from 1987 to 1991. Born in

Casey County, Kentucky Casey County is a county located in the U.S. Commonwealth of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 15,941. Its county seat is Liberty. The county was formed in 1806 from the western part of Lincoln County and named for Colonel ...

, she was the wife of former

Kentucky Governor The governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Sixty-two men and one woman have served as governor of Kentucky. The governor's term is four years in length; since 1992, incumbents have bee ...

Wallace G. Wilkinson. In 1960, she married Wallace G. Wilkinson and together they started the Kentucky Paperback Gallery in 1963 which later became Wallace's College Book Company. The couple had two sons, Wallace Glenn Wilkinson Jr. and Andrew Wilkinson. Martha Wilkinson was business manager of the Wilkinson Farms. The gown Wilkinson wore at her husband's inauguration was a gift from her sister, Catherine Rubards. She wore it with a gold, ruby and diamond necklace given to her by Governor Wilkinson. Martha Wilkinson created "Martha's Army" to fight adult illiteracy. Wilkinson's group used techniques such as a telephone hotline, (800)-GED-ARMY, and financial incentives to encourage Kentucky high school dropouts to earn a General Educational Development (GED) certificate. In 1990, country-music singer

Waylon Jennings Waylon Arnold Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He is considered one of the pioneers of the Outlaw country, outlaw movement in country music. Jennings started playing ...

, who dropped out of school in the 10th grade, earned a GED through Martha's Army. In 1991, when her husband was

term limit A term limit is a legal restriction on the number of terms a person may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potential for monopoly, w ...

ed from seeking a second consecutive term, Wilkinson announced her candidacy for

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

. She withdrew from the race before the Democratic primary when polls showed her trailing Lt. Gov.

Brereton Jones Brereton Chandler Jones (June 27, 1939 – September 18, 2023) was an American politician from the Commonwealth of Kentucky. From 1991 to 1995, he was the state's 58th governor, and had served from 1987 to 1991 as the 50th lieutenant governor ...

. She died on May 7, 2014, in

Sarasota, Florida Sarasota () is a city in and the county seat of Sarasota County, Florida, United States. It is located in Southwest Florida, the southern end of the Tampa Bay area, and north of Fort Myers, Florida, Fort Myers and Punta Gorda, Florida, Punta Gord ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkinson, Martha First ladies and gentlemen of Kentucky Kentucky Democrats People from Casey County, Kentucky Women in Kentucky politics 1941 births 2014 deaths 21st-century American women 20th-century Kentucky politicians 20th-century American women politicians