FRANKFORT, Ky. (WKYT) - Former Kentucky Governor Martha Layne Collins has died at 88 years old.

As the Commonwealth’s 56th Governor, serving from 1983 to 1987, Collins was the first and, to date, only woman to hold the state’s highest office.

Governor Collins’s administration was defined by her commitment to education and economic development.

Facing skepticism, Collins championed an unprecedented incentives package that successfully brought Toyota’s first North American manufacturing plant to Georgetown in 1986.

“That was not an easy get and she worked tirelessly to make that happen and when she did, it was a feather in the cap not only for Kentucky but for the United States,” Colmon Elridge, Kentucky Democratic Party Chair said.

The landmark achievement created thousands of jobs and

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