Byrdstown Alderman Passes Away

Byrdstown employees mourned the loss of Aldermen Johnny Bilbrey during Monday’s board meeting.

Bilbrey was sixty-nine- years-old and serving his third term as a city councilman. Mayor Sam Gibson said this is the first time a Byrdstown alderman has died while in office.

“One of the most things that he liked the most than about anything he’d done was being a city council member,” Gibson said. “Like I said he’d been here ten years, drove a school bus, and worked at a farm and home and a lot of different things, mostly in the city.”

A $1,000 scholarship in Bilbrey’s name will be presented to a high school graduate in the spring in his memory. The town nominated lifelong Jeff Rich to fill Bilbrey’s position.

“He was a big fan of vehicles, cars, trucks, and things,” Gibson said. “And it may be somebody wanting to go to vocation school and go into auto mechanics or working on vehicles.”

Bilbrey passed away at Vanderbilt Hospital from health complications. Bilbrey was born May 31, 1951 in Chanute, Pickett County and was a school bus driver for 29 years.

Rich is a city volunteer and a little league coach. Gibson said he is a Byrdstown lifelong resident.