Billy Joe Driver, the longtime Clanton Mayor, passed away on July 9, 2020, after complication from COVID-19.
The 84-year-old mayor was admitted to St. Vincent’s Chilton on Sunday (June 28) for treatment of the virus. On the following Tuesday, Driver was transferred to St. Vincent’s Hospital in Birmingham.
Driver was first elected to the Clanton city council in 1972. In his nearly 50 years in politics Driver never lost a race. Prior to becoming politically active, Driver had worked for the city of Clanton since 1953. In 2011 Business Alabama Magazine named Driver as one of Alabama’s favorite mayors.
Driver described the City that he served for seven decades as “Clanton, a growing city with a rich history, is the seat of Chilton County Alabama, the state’s largest producer of peaches. Besides peaches, some of our most remarkable natural resources are a beautiful landscape and a friendly small-town atmosphere.”