Georgia R. Bates, new Fayette County deputy clerk, was shown at work, in a page one photo in the Lexington Leader in September 1955, in the chattel mortgage office at the Fayette County courthouse. Bates, the first African American to be employed in the County Clerk’s office, was administered the oath of office September 8, by County Judge Pro Tem Weldon Shouse. The 34-year-old Bates was married to James F. Bates, a garageman and chauffeur for Dixie McKinley, a local automobile dealer. Bates, a Republican, was a native of Lincoln County but had resided in Lexington since she was 12 years old. She was a graduate of Dunbar High School, attended West Virginia State College and studied business administration. During World War II she worked for the Air Service Command in Dayton, Ohio, as a clerk and the Sylvania Electric Company in Lexington, as a receptionist. For the previous 12 years she had been employed by Atlanta Life Insurance Company on Dewees Street. Herald-Leader Archive Photo