By Bill Straub

NKyTribune reporter

WASHINGTON – Martha Layne Collins, Kentucky’s first and, thus far, only woman governor who died early Saturday morning at age 88, was the most reticent politician I ever covered in more than 40 years on the job. Always guarded, rarely forthcoming, she was more ice than fire during her long tenure in the public eye.

That trait is something than normally doesn’t serve a candidate or an office holder well. But it didn’t stop her winning elections or from leading a successful administration – with major caveats – from 1983 to 1987. And she will be lauded in history as the governor who brought Toyota to Kentucky.

Collins’ restrained nature – she rarely exposed a sense of humor or the sort of backslapping that made traditional Kentucky politicians like A.B.

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