Dr. Wendell Butler
Dr. Wendell Harding Butler (1924-2020) practiced dentistry in Gainsboro for nearly fifty years. Additionally, he was active in local politics.
Born on October 12, 1924, in Carthage, Texas, he attended Prairie View State College in Texas. Barred from attending dental school at the all-white University of Texas, the state of Texas paid for Butler’s tuition at Howard University School of Dentistry in Washington, DC. He graduated in 1949 and married Susie Sparrow on June 18 of that year. The two moved to Roanoke in 1953, and by 1954 Dr. Butler had opened a dental clinic in the Cosmopolitan Building at 103 Gilmer Avenue, NW.
Political Career
From 1970 to 1980 Dr. Butler served on the Roanoke City School Board, eventually becoming the first African American to hold the position of chairman. From 1980 to 1984 Dr. Butler was an elected member of the Roanoke City Council. Between 1980 and 1982 he served as Roanoke’s vice mayor under Mayor Noel C. Taylor. The election of these two men marked the first time in Virginia’s history that African Americans held both of these offices in a mostly white city.
Dr. Butler was a member of the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Committee’s Board of Commissioners for seven years and served as the board’s chairman for five. In 1991 he was appointed to the Virginia Water Control Board by governor Douglas Wilder and was elected chairman of the board in 1992. In 1996 and 2000 he returned to city council, finishing the unexpired terms of John Edwards and Jim Trout, respectively.
During his career Dr. Butler served on the Southern Regional Education Board of Control and the Virginia State Advisory Council on Vocational Education.
Additional Accomplishments
Dr. Butler was a life member of the American Dental Association and the Virginia Dental Association. In addition, he served as a captain in the Air Force.
Butler died in Roanoke on November 5, 2020.
See Also
Sources
Biographical data, Dr. Wendell Harding Butler (retired). (n.d.). [Document]. Gainsboro Branch Library Vertical Files, Roanoke, VA, United States.
Butler resigns housing post. (1991, Feb. 12). The Roanoke Times.
Chamberlain, J. (1976, Mar. 10). The Roanoke Times.
Chubb-Hale, V. M. and Class of 1982-1983. (n.d.). Outstanding Blacks in Roanoke past and present. Virginia Room of Roanoke Public Libraries. Retrieved, February 17, 2022 from http://www.virginiaroom.org/digital/files/original/20/2724/VC_10_Outstanding_Blacks_.PDF
Jackson, T. (2000, May 16). Butler sworn in to council seat. The Roanoke Times.
Kennedy, J. (2007, Aug. 11). Texas to Va. over 100 years. The Roanoke Times.
McCue, C. (1993, Nov. 12). Keeping Va. water clean his other job. The Roanoke Times.
Shareef, R. (1996). The Roanoke Valley’s African American Heritage: A Pictorial History. The Donning Company Publishers.