As Hurricane Helene bore down on Lexington Friday night, another tour de force from the South took the stage.
Former Vice Mayor Isabel Yates celebrated her 100th birthday with friends and family days before October 1.
She shares a 100th birthday celebration with former President Jimmy Carter.
October is Isabel Yates Month, according to a proclamation to be announced by Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton on October 10. As the proclamation notes, Yates “learned the importance of public service from his father, a city doctor, who told him, ‘You better be proud of where you live, and you should live in such a way that the place will be proud of you.
Yates grew up in South Carolina, but moved to Lexington in the 1960s, with her husband Wilson and soon her four children. Nonetheless, Yates turned her attention to a host of civic projects, including a former swampy industrial area that, over the years of her advocacy, became McConnell Springs.
It would be easier to find things she didn’t volunteer for than to list them all, but let’s say she was involved in the following organizations: the Arts and Heritage Festival, the Kentucky Mother’s Association, the Lexington Philharmonic Guild, the Lexington Tree Board, United Way. and Kentucky Educational Television.
She has worked on such glamorous projects as the restoration of the Kentucky Theater, and on far less glamorous ones, like Lexington’s ongoing stormwater problems, becoming nicknamed “the Stormwater Queen” because of her attention to water issues. runoff, according to spokeswoman Susan Straub.
She served on the Lexington Urban County Council from 1991 to 2002 and along the way became the city’s first female vice mayor. Another aphorism she loved helped her navigate many thorny civic questions: “No matter how thin the pancake is, there are always two sides.”
Former Mayor Jim Gray, who made Yates first lady of Lexington, called her a force of nature.
“Whatever she set out to do, she accomplished it, and always with Lexington in mind,” he said.
Yates’ son, Glenn Yates, said his mother’s true strength lies in her sincere interest in people and in improving her adopted community.
“She loves Lexington and the state of Kentucky, but most of all loves all the people and the power of what has been and will be accomplished by working together,” he said.
So on Tuesday, raise a glass to the First Lady of all things good in Lexington or if you’d like to send her a birthday email, she’s at imyates3@gmail.com.
