Gay Bolling Shepperson (1887–1977) was the daughter of John Daniel and Mary Burton Shepperson. She entered the New York School of Social Work after receiving preliminary training in Washington, D.C. Shepperson taught school for six years before entering the field of social work. She worked for the United States War Department and as a field representative of the American Red Cross. Shepperson came to Georgia from Virginia where she headed the children’s bureau of the Virginia State Department of Welfare from 1923 to 1928. In Georgia she became administrator for three successive federal relief projects: the Civil Works Administration (CWA), the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The Works Progress Administration, renamed the Work Projects Administration in 1937, was the federal agency responsible for administrating relief programs during the New Deal. Shepperson was the only female to serve as a state administrator for the WPA during the New Deal. She also served as president and chairman of the board of the Pine Mountain Valley Rural Community, one of the most successful examples of rural resettlement and rehabilitation work. She resigned her post in 1939 and returned to Richmond, Virginia, where she died at age 90.