Frances Smith grew up on a dairy farm in
Simpsonville, Kentucky. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in health and
physical education from
Murray State University in 1963, she taught at
Westport High School in Jefferson County and worked at various residential programs for children. In 1976, Smith received her doctorate in
educational psychology at the
University of Kentucky. She met
Ted Strickland there the day after Christmas in 1973. They married exactly 13 years later, in 1987, and chose not to have children due to their age. After she graduated, Frances Strickland served as a public
school psychologist for many years. As president of Smith Educational Enterprises, a 1991 children's novel about
Martha Layne Collins, the first female
Governor of Kentucky. As the First Lady of Ohio, she served as the chair of the Ohio Family and Children First councils, composed of state-agency leaders that helps families seeking government services. She is largely given credit for the design of the "Beautiful Ohio" license plate that was introduced in 2009 and served as
Ohio's standard license plate from 2010 to 2012. For Strickland, its agricultural theme, particularly the windmill, recalled her childhood on a dairy farm. During her husband's reelection campaign, she often played the
guitar at rallies for her husband. == Bibliography ==