Gazaway honored at city hall

Friends and family of Brenda Gazaway gathered at Aragon City Hall over the weekend to pay tribute to the former mayor and council member who “was a very special person to the city of Aragon.”

The city council had voted last year to approve renaming the city’s municipal complex in her honor, but it took some time to figure out exactly how the council wanted the plaque and signage to look and where it would be installed.

Settling on lettering on the upper window above the double doors entering into city hall for signage, a granite plaque was made an inset as well next to the front of city hall.

Aragon Baptist Church pastor Rev. Calvin Brown shared remarks during the unveiling ceremony as to how much the city meant to Gazaway, and the devotion she took in the work on the city council.

“In my heart, the truth is that Brenda (Gazaway) served Aragon most of her life,” Brown said. “She was born here, raised here, went to school here, worked in the mill here, went to church here. Raised her family here. And went to her heavenly home from here. She loved the City of Aragon and everyone who lived here.”

She served on the council from 1994 to 1997, and was voted in 1997 as mayor which she served until 2011.

In 2015, she took on the role of mayor again without opposition, and sat in the post until she died earlier this summer on June 7.

Following the unveiling by her family and Brown of the plaque, ceremonies carried on inside with friends and Aragon city employees.

Rev. Calvin Brown (right) and family members of Mayor Brenda Gazaway unveiled a plaque put in place in her honor (see right) on Sept. 4, 2016.

Photos by Kevin Myrick/SJ Left: Rev. Calvin Brown and family members unveil the new plaque for Aragon mayor Brenda Gazaway on Sept. 4. Above: A reception was held for family and friends following the ceremony at city hall.