Search Begins For Bazemore's Replacement

by Cal Bryant - December 4th, 2006 - Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald

WINDSOR - His seat sat empty, but his memory lives on.

As the Bertie County Board of Commissioners went about their normal duties here at Monday’s meeting, one of the items on their agenda was to honor the memory of the late J. Jasper Bazemore, a three-term incumbent commissioner who died Nov. 15, just 19 days shy of receiving the oath of office to begin his fourth, four-year term.

That now vacant seat also prompted the commissioners to officially launch an effort to find a replacement.

But first things first.

During the invocation, Rev. Vonner Horton of Oxley Hill Missionary Baptist Church said that although the Bertie Board of Commissioners now has a vacancy, heaven has welcomed a new board member.


“God, your good and faithful servant now has a place on the eternal board,” Rev. Vonner said in prayer. “His shoes have been hung in heaven, but before his labor ended in rest he left his footprints all over Bertie County.”

Thank you Vonner. Your words expressed how I felt. Mr. Bazemore was a great man and Bertie County will miss him.