August 17, 2020

The Governor Lady: Nellie Tayloe Ross will return from history to share her personal story at three locations in Wyoming this fall. The program, sponsored by the Wyoming State Historical Society, is made possible through a grant from the Wyoming Humanities Council.

The first of three programs in Wyoming will take place at the Wyoming Historic Governors’ Mansion, August 22 at 2 p.m.

Actress and historian, Kay Sebring-Roberts Kuhlmann will perform a first-person docudrama as the nation’s first elected woman governor. Elected in a 1924 Wyoming special election, at the age of 48 and for a term of two years (1925-27), Governor Nellie Tayloe Ross served one term as Wyoming’s 14th governor. She then became a magazine columnist and nationally famous traveling professional speaker. In 1932, President Franklin Roosevelt named her Director of the U.S. Mint, a position she held for 20 years.

She remained a behind-the-scenes national political figure in retirement, and the Governor Lady never returned home permanently to Wyoming. She visited often, however, her final time while joining other statewide famous figures at the centennial of Yellowstone National Park in 1972, when she was 96 years old. The Honorable Nellie Tayloe Ross lived to be 101 and is buried in Cheyenne.

Kuhlmann grew up in Guernsey, Wyoming and graduated from Guernsey-Sunrise High School in 1968, and had no aspirations of a theatrical career until she was teaching in Japan in her late 30s and was asked to perform in some English language plays.

She said, “I realized I had a talent for it, and it was pleasing to me.” Kuhlmann holds a MA in theater from the University of Missouri in Kansas City, and is a member of the Wyoming State Historical Society.

“I am thrilled to present Nellie Tayloe Ross to audiences in Cheyenne (August 22), Gillette (August 24) and Lander (August 27),” she said. “It is especially fitting in celebration of the 150th year of suffrage for Wyoming’s women, and the 100th year of national woman suffrage.”  

While this will be her first portrayal of Nellie Tayloe Ross, the actress has performed as Greer Garson and Dale Evans. The one-hour program is sponsored by the Wyoming State Historical Society, a nonprofit membership driven educational organization, with support from the Wyoming Humanities. The free program is suitable for audiences age 10 and up. The audience, after hearing the Governor Lady tell her story, will be invited to ask her questions.

For more details contact the Wyoming State Historical Society via e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Photo of Nellie Tayloe Ross from Wyoming State Archives