SALYERSVILLE – Two well-deserved road dedications were held in Salyersville recently along Restaurant Row, honoring two local business owners, one of which served many years as a city council member.
In the dedications held by Salyersville Mayor James “Pete” Shepherd on Saturday, May 14, he honored Henry Clay Patrick, who passed away in 2014 and was the owner of the Texaco Station many years ago.
“Henry Clay was always supportive of Salyersville and Magoffin County,” Shepherd said. “It’s a pleasure to be able to dedicate this sign for this street in front of his house ‘Henry Clay Patrick Boulevard.’”
His son, David Patrick, spoke at the dedication, stating, “Our family is very proud to have this sign and road dedicated to Dad. I’d like to thank Mayor Pete Shepherd and the city council members. I know Matthew and Pete work well together, so I’d like to thank the county judge and magistrates, friends and family that are gathered here.”
Patrick went on to say, “Dad wasn’t a proud man, so I would like to do is dedicate this to the veterans. I know this isn’t about the veterans, but Dad was proud to be a veteran. There were three things he was proud of: one was being a Christian; second was being a veteran; third was being from Magoffin County.”
After dedicating the access road off of Parkway Drive to the businesses on the north side of the Mountain Parkway (McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Subway, etc.), the group went across Restaurant Row to access road that runs on the south side of Restaurant Row, now known as “Tom Frazier Way.”
Mayor Shepherd couldn’t help but get a little emotional at the dedication for Tom Frazier, who passed away in 2017, and had been a business owner and longtime Salyersville City Council member.
“He was my best buddy,” Mayor Shepherd said. “I could talk about him all day, but let’s get to this road dedication.”
After his grandson unveiled the sign, Frazier’s wife, Patricia Frazier, spoke at the dedication, stating, “He was, I guess all those years on council off and on, I think it was around 28, maybe, altogether, and I’m sure he’d never dream that this would happen. There’s many things that have happened since he passed away in the world, and I’m always thinking, ‘I wonder what Tom would think about this?’ and I wonder the same thing today. I think he would really be proud and we all are. He’s with us.”
His son, Forrest, said, “It’s hard to know what he would have thought. I think in some ways he’d say, ‘that’s one of the craziest things I’ve ever heard,’ but I know he’d be honored. He’d be very happy. He worked his whole life in this county, for this county, and I think we all remember him and we’ll always, but to have something like this, to have his name on the road, I think will help ensure that name will live on. It will live on well past all of us and hopefully somebody driving down the road one day when we’re all dead, they’ll say, ‘who was that guy?’ and somebody will say, ‘well, let me tell you a story about him. That’s what we hope. Today is a crazy day. We’re tearing down the back half of my grandmother’s theater, so I was literally there, about a quarter ‘til 10, up to my knees in concrete rubble, and I called my wife and I said, ‘I can do one of two things. I can be there on time or I can take a shower. It’s your choice.’ She said, ‘Well, you need to be there on time.’ Well, luckily, I brought Dad’s hat, so never mind the hair. I got the hat on, he’s here with us and I’m sure he’d be very proud.”
Frazier’s family thanked Mayor Shepherd, the city council and the Salyersville Renaissance for the honor and for being at the dedication.
