MANSFIELD — Walden “Butch” Jefferson didn’t have to live on Mansfield’s north side. He chose to make it his home.
“Butch lived in this neighborhood on Bowman Street for 60 years. He could have moved out whenever he wanted to,” his oldest nephew, Eric Jefferson, said Monday afternoon.
“But he’d tell you, ‘I love the north end. I can get on (U.S. 30) and I can be anywhere I need to go. I can go uptown. I can be anywhere in 10 or 15 minutes. I’m not going anyplace else.’
“This is where I want to be,'” Jefferson recalled his uncle saying.
Eric Jefferson was joined by other family members, friends, community leaders and elected officials near the entrance to Johns Park as a street sign was unveiled, marking a section of Johns Avenue as Walden “Butch” Jefferson’s Ave.
Jefferson represented the 4th Ward on Mansfield City Council for 16 years. He was a fierce defender of north-side residents, departing when he lost a bid for re-election in 2019.
He died on Jan. 10, 2022, at the age of 72.
When City Council last year approved adding his name to the street, many jokingly remarked Jefferson would not have approved it himself.
“I know he always joked at City Council that he didn’t want anybody honoring him because that’s just the way he was,” his nephew said.
“He wanted to do what he wanted to do because he wanted to do it. But in (his) last days, I spent a lot of time talking with him. And I can tell you that he would appreciate this because this was his community. This was his passion and his life.
“He was always concerned about this community and he loved this community,” Eric Jefferson said.
Jefferson’s sister-in-law, Mary Dockery, said he wanted to make the Johns Park perfect for children in the neighborhood.
“A lot of times, he would come (to Johns Park) and cut this grass himself. He did a lot of stuff (for) this park himself.
“He worked hard. He’d go to work, he’d come up (here) and you’d find him doing this because he did not like the grass being grown up. He said it makes it bad,” Dockery said.
Jefferson was known for his no-nonsense punctuality.
“He did his job. He was straight. He was on time. So you weren’t ready, he would leave you. He got on me quite a few times. I’m very slow,” Dockery said with a laugh.
“I loved him and I am so honored to see (the new sign).”
Deanna West-Torrence, the founder and executive director of the North End Community Improvement Collaborative, served a term with Jefferson on City Council.
“I was the 5th Ward and Butch was 4th. And I served with Butch and Don Culliver, who were really, really big mentors for me,” West-Torrence said.
“The wild card came because Butch … you could never know exactly what he was going do until the vote was cast. There was no such thing as trying to figure it out ahead of time.
“That was something that he really took pride in. And we actually talked about that a lot, and the fact that he felt like people elected (Jefferson) because they know (he was) going do a good job.”
West-Torrence said Jefferson researched issues and tried to do the best thing for his constituents.
“The confidence that people had in him really, really pushed him along and made him not feel like he had to really do anything other than what his constituents wanted,” she said.
West-Torrence said Jefferson pushed to get resources for NECIC during its early days.
“When we formed NECIC, we had a number of different relationships with Butch. He was part of our elder program as the most recent thing. But even before that, when we were developing the north-end plan, Butch was a huge part of helping us get input and put that plan together and then move the plan forward as we shepherded it through council,” West-Torrence said.
Jefferson was born on March 3, 1949, in Mansfield to W.B. Jefferson Sr. and Pearl Jefferson.
After graduating from Mansfield Senior High School, Jefferson served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War and Operation Desert Storm, earning a Bronze star.
After leaving the military, Jefferson worked for AK Steel in Mansfield, retiring after 27 years.
