She remembers taking her drivers license test at the Lafayette Court House when she was 16 or 17 years old. It was 1930 or 31, she thinks. She'd been driving since she was ten. Her father taught her to drive in a big open field near their home. Drivers licenses weren't a requirement then. But, later, when the state of Tennessee required that all drivers obtain a license, she got into her car and drove down to the Lafayette County Court House to get one.
She remembers pulling into an angled parking space in front of the court house and going inside. A policeman came out with her and got into her car. He told her to pull out, which she did, then she drove around the court house and pulled back into the parking space. She remembers the policeman telling her, "You did good," and then asking if she knew she was the first lady in Macon County to get a drivers license. She didn't, but she remembers being happy to hear it and excited about having a drivers license.
In fact, she became the designated driver in her family. Her husband, Audie Leath, knew how to drive. But, he worked away from home which left Ruby to carry her in-laws to and from town for groceries and supplies. She didn't mind being the family chauffeur. She enjoyed it. She remembers driving a Chevrolet coup of some kind. She can't remember the model, but says it was a Chevrolet. "Back then," she says, "everybody drove Chevrolets. They didn't drive Fords so much like they do today."
There's no way to verify that Ruby Nichols Draper is the first woman to obtain a drivers license in Macon County. No one here remembers. James Hauser, of the Macon County Clerk's office says the county turned over all information pertaining to drivers licenses to the state a long time ago. The state claims their records don't go back far enough to check. Mr. Hauser remembers his Dad saying that he was one of the first in the county to obtain a drivers license. He's gone on to a better world now, but would have been about 90 this year, same as Mrs. Draper, had he lived to see it.
An unfortunate fire took Ruby Draper's records and pictures, so we can't see the original license, but I'll bet it was a good picture, cause look at her now.
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