Georgia Neese Clark Gray (January 27, 1898 – October 26, 1995)[1] was an American actress and banker who served as the 29th treasurer of the United States from 1949 to 1953, and was the first woman to hold that office.

[4] Her father, a self-made man, had prospered in the years before her birth and become the town's leading citizen, owning much of its property as well as the bank and general store.

Neese was a Presbyterian but she briefly attended Bethany College, an Episcopalian school for women in Topeka, before transferring to Washburn University.

Gray pursued an acting career from 1921 to 1931, living in New York City, getting to know Helen Hayes and Charlie Chaplin, touring the country and earning $500 a week.

When the Depression and the onset of "talkies," motion pictures with sound, cut short her stage career, she returned home to care for her sick father.

At the death of her father in 1937, she inherited control and the presidency of Richland State Bank, as well as the family's general store, grain elevator, lumber yard, insurance agency, many farms and other real estate.

The Georgia Neese Gray Award is reserved for presentation to Kansans who have served in elected office at the municipal and/or county level and who have performed outstanding service to their local community in the pursuit of the principles of the Kansas Democratic Party.