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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowFreda L. Lockhart, the first woman to become a dealer for Cadillac and Saturn automobiles, has died at age 83, according
to Flanner and Buchanan Funeral Centers.
Lockhart, who operated auto dealerships in the Indianapolis area for most
of three decades, passed away Sunday in Florida, where she moved after her retirement in 1999.
A native of West
Virginia, Lockhart moved to Indianapolis in 1965 and began working at Cleverly Cadillac in various secretarial and management
positions. In 1972, after the death of owner James Cleverly, Lockhart successfully applied to run the dealership at 56th Street
and Keystone Avenue, becoming the first woman signed as an exclusive Cadillac dealer in the United States.
Lockhart Cadillac grew to become one of the nation’s largest dealers, eventually earning
Lockhart the honor of becoming the first woman named to the Cadillac Hall of Fame.
In 1988, Lockhart Automotive
Group became central Indiana’s Saturn representative, and the company opened five
Saturn dealerships in the area over the next seven years.
Lockhart was active in local business
circles, becoming the first woman elected to the board of directors of the Indiana State Chamber of Commerce and American
United Life Insurance Co. She also was first female president of the Automobile Dealer Association of Indiana and the Indianapolis
Auto Trade Association.
Her extensive community work including stints with the St. Vincent Hospital advisory board,
Junior Achievement of Central Indiana, the Salvation Army and the 500 Festival Board.
Lockhart’s son Marc
Lockhart, daughter Lynn Kimmel and several grandchildren continue to carry on the family auto business.
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