Woman in the Wing Opens January 17
By: Patricia Rudisill, Gaston County Museum of Art & History
Dallas, NC (WNN)- The Gaston County Museum of Art & History announced in a press release that it will debut a new exhibit, Nell Yates: Woman in the Wing, on January 17, 2025. This exhibit honors the life and legacy of Nell Yates, a Dallas, NC native who dedicated nearly 40 years to serving seven U.S. Presidents in the White House West Wing.
โNellie Yates was the most professional public servant I have ever worked with,โ said the late President Jimmy Carter. โI know every other president she worked with shared my high opinion for her service on behalf of each of us and of our country.โ
Those remarks were made at the time of Nell Yatesโ passing in 2018, and her work with President Carter, as well as with six other US Presidents, is the subject of a new exhibit at the Gaston County Museum of Art & History entitled Nell Yates: Woman in the Wing opening January 17, 2025.
Mrs. Yates worked in the West Wing for nearly 40 years, serving as secretary and assistant to the late President Jimmy Carter during his tenure in the White House from 1977 to 1981.
In the Nell Yates collection, a signed headshot from President Carter reads โTo Nell Yates, my friend.โ The collection also contains a 1980 Carter/Mondale campaign button and a peanut lapel pin, along with a wide variety of mementos, photographs, and papers from her tenure outside the Oval Office.
Mrs. Yates was born in Dallas, NC in 1924 to James Palmer Lewis and Corrie Pauline (Stroupe) Lewis. She was one of six children, with two siblings and three half-siblings. She graduated from Dallas High in 1942 and set off for Washington D.C. the following year, where she met and married Dickson Yates.
Nell started her long career in the secretarial pool at the Federal Housing Authority; however, it was not long before her hard work led her to a position in the West Wing of the White House.
While other staffers moved through the White House West Wing with the change of each administration, Mrs. Yates remained at her post, serving as a staff assistant, a vague and inadequate signifier of what turned out to be a nuanced and ever-evolving role.
Mrs. Yates returned to Dallas following her retirement and gave her collection of West Wing materials to the Art & History Museum before her passing in 2018.
Admission to the Museum is free. Hours are Tuesday-Friday, 10:00 am-5:00 pm, and Saturday 11:00 am โ 4:00 pm. For more information, visit www.gastoncountymuseum.org.
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