Happy b’day, Mr. Mayor

Turning 100 years old is enough to deserve the warmest wishes and fondest accolades.
With a record of some 55 years of public service, A. Raymon Thacker deserves that and more.
Well-wishers lavished those accolades amid a memory-laden celebration Sunday in Scottsville.
Mr. Thacker had served as Scottsville’s mayor for three decades before retiring in 1996 as Virginia’s longest-serving mayor ever. His public career goes all the way back to 1941 when he was first elected to Town Council.
It is not an exaggeration to say that the town might have been doomed without him. The little town on the James — the former county seat of Albemarle — had suffered several destructive floods. Each round of property damage ate away at the available public and private resources for rebuilding — both financial and emotional resources. Each flood washed away another piece of hope for the future.
If the town couldn’t be protected from the next flood, why struggle to rebuild from this one?
Mayor Thacker saw the problem and worked diligently to acquire federal funding for a levee. Protecting the town’s property also restored the confidence of its residents and businesses. Money now could be put into other improvement plans without undue worry.
That was not the only project he spearheaded that permanently altered the fate, and the face, of Scottsville. He also helped engineer a deal to annex land from Albemarle County, which increased its land area from around 100 to nearly 1,000 acres and that nearly doubled its population.
He persuaded the state to build a bridge over the James at Scottsville back in 1968. In the 1940s as a councilor, he helped persuade the Uniroyal factory to locate at Scottsville.
As Del. Rob Bell said at the mayor’s hometown birthday party, Mr. Thacker has had successes that few politicians can even dream of. It is not given to many to influence their communities so profoundly.
Congratulations to Mayor Thacker on reaching 100 — which, in this extraordinary life, is only one of many achievements.