Kathy Stewart O’Nan has served as the Mayor of the City of Mayfield since January 2019, and until the night of December 10, 2021, the most difficult issue that she had faced was guiding the City through the CoVid 19 pandemic. But on that evening an EF-4 tornado swept through the city leaving hundreds of citizens homeless, demolishing the entirety of the downtown central business district including every city government building, and claiming the lives of twenty-four within Graves County. Although no training exists to prepare one to lead a city through a crisis such as this, Mayor O’Nan is confident that, with time and the extraordinary efforts by the strong people of Mayfield, her city will not only recover, but will emerge a better place in which to live, work, and raise a family.

Prior to serving as mayor, Ms. O’Nan taught US History and served as the Chairman of the Social Studies Department at Mayfield High School for over twenty years and during that time served on the Mayfield City Council for sixteen years. She moved as a newly-wed bride from Sturgis, Kentucky, to Mayfield in 1976, and chose to remain there to raise her two daughters following the death of her husband in 1987. She is a graduate of Lambuth University, Jackson, Tennessee, and received a master’s degree from Murray State University. She is a past-president of the Lambuth University Alumni Association and also of the Graves County Public Library Board of Trustees. She currently serves on the Kentucky League of Cities Executive Board of Directors where she is the second vice-president, the Graves County Economic Development Board of Directors, the Purchase Area Development District Board of Directors, and is a member of the First United Methodist Church where she was the Children’s Choir Director for forty-two years. In 2022 she was recognized as a Notable Woman in Kentucky Politics and Government and has received the following awards : 2022 Mayfield – Graves County Chamber of Commerce Mary Propes Outstanding Woman in Business; 2023 Small Business Administration Phoenix Award for Outstanding Contribution to Disaster Recovery for a Public Official; 2023 Kentucky League of Cities RISE Award; 2024 Tommy Longo Disaster Leadership Award, LeadersLink; 2025 Lambuth University Outstanding Alumni.