Lilly McDaniel Ledbetter

Lilly McDaniel Ledbetter, fair pay icon, passed away peacefully after a brief illness on October 12, 2024, surrounded by her family. She was 86. Born in Possum Trot, Alabama, on April 14,
1938, Lilly grew up in a house without electricity or running water. Despite the challenges she faced growing up in the pre-civil rights South, she never let a setback overcome her hopes and
dreams. As a young girl, when she couldn't afford a cheerleading outfit, she raised money selling baked goods. In 1979, she joined the management team at Goodyear in Gadsden, Alabama, near
her hometown in Jacksonville, and worked there for almost 20 years. At the end of her career, when she learned she was being paid unfairly, she stood up for herself and fought for fair pay.
After years of litigation, her case made it to the Supreme Court. Through her strength of character, love for her family, and faith in justice, she persevered and advocated for fair pay for all women and men in the workplace. In 2009, President Obama signed into law the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. After the bill was passed, Lilly dedicated her life to speaking and educating different groups about pay equity, which she believed wasn't only a women's issue but a family issue. Anyone who met Lilly fell in love with her southern drawl, beauty, and determination to do the right thing. She embodied the true grace and grit of a southern woman who not only worked in a tire manufacturing plant for many years but won countless ballroom dancing championships at the same time. Throughout her journey as a pay equity trailblazer, she made lifelong friends and allies in her home state of Alabama, the halls of Congress, across the country, and around the world---Ruth Bader Ginsburg hung a copy of Lilly's bill in her office. Her greatest sense of pride, though, came from her own family and her beloved grandchildren and great grandchildren. Everything Lilly did was for the good of her family, and everything she stood for was for the good of all families. Born an ordinary woman, Lilly will stand throughout history as an extraordinary champion for equal pay for equal work. Inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2011, Lilly received numerous awards, including being named as one of TIME's 100 most influential women of the past century. Most recently, she was awarded The Future is Female by Advertising Week, and a feature film about her life, "Lilly," premiered at the Hamptons International Film Festival. Her memoir, "Grace and Grit: How I Won My Fight at Goodyear and Beyond," was published in 2012. Lilly was also a long time member of the First Baptist Church of Jacksonville.
She is predeceased by her parents, JC and Edna McDaniel, and her husband, Charles Ledbetter. She is survived by her daughter, Vickie Ledbetter Saxon (Bill); her son, Phillip Ledbetter; her
grandchildren, Will Saxon (Meg), Ross Saxon (Awbrey), Alex Saxon, and Grace Ledbetter; and her great grandchildren, Hollis Saxon, Leo Saxon, and Sally Saxon.
Donations may be made to the Lilly Ledbetter Endowed Fund at Jacksonville State University and The American Cancer Society.