Wendell Lynch swore an oath — administered by his brother, retired District Judge Arnold Lynch, before a packed crowd Sunday afternoon in the Memorial Building — to serve as Hopkinsville’s interim mayor for at least the next 10 months.
“I’m excited about this opportunity, and with you all behind me, I know this city can be moved forward in a way that we need to move forward,” Lynch said. “It’s not perfect. We’ve got challenges and we’ve got opportunities. But we are going to turn those into success stories. With your help, I think we can do it.”
A retired bank president and three-term Democratic city councilman, Lynch, 68, becomes the first African American to serve as Hopkinsville’s mayor for an extended period. (The late F.E. Whitney was mayor for one week in May 1972 but could not garner enough support on city council for an interim appointment when a vacancy occurred in the mayor’s office. He was at that time the longest-serving council member and later served on Christian Fiscal Court.)
Lynch was the unanimous choice of his fellow council members for interim mayor following the recent resignation of Carter Hendricks, a Republican, who left city hall to become executive director of the South Western Kentucky Economic Development Council.
Lynch acknowledged the historic nature of his appointment by reflecting on his family’s history.
He described recently finding the grave of his great-great-grandmother Sallie Blane, who was enslaved at her birth in 1827.
“She remembered, in 1833, being auctioned … in Lynchburg, Virginia, at age 6, and ultimately wound up in Stewart County, Tennessee, where much of my family is from,” he told the crowd of family, friends and city employees who turned out for the swearing-in ceremony.
Sallie Blane handed down two things to her family, he said.
“One of those was her salvation, and the God she served. And the other was her liberty.”
She became free when President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863, he said.
“Until her death in 1905, those were the two things she held dear. She loved her Lord and she loved her country,” Lynch said.
Lynch was born in Hopkinsville, the eighth of 10 children. His parents, the late J.T. and Virginia Lynch, resided on Brown Street.
Several of Lynch’s siblings and other relatives attended the swearing-in ceremony, and during his brief remarks, he invited his family to come stand with him. He used that moment to express unity with the city.
“I am black. I am white. I am red. I am yellow,” he said.
“We represent everything that God has created. We are so blessed to be here together.
“Let’s support one another.”
He added, “I will do the very best I can. I won’t make all the right decisions or make all the right judgments, but any errors I make will be errors not of the heart but of the head.”
Lynch’s wife, Bonnie, is a retired school teacher and former school board member. She recently retired as coordinator of the county’s Imagination Library program. Their children are Shayla Lynch, an attorney, who resides in Lexington, and Brian, of Hopkinsville, who teaches in Clarksville, Tennessee.
Lynch’s appointment to the mayor’s office will expire at the end of 2020; however, at that point, two years will remain on Hendricks’ term.
Under state law, the local Republican and Democratic parties will each appoint a nominee to run in a special election in November. The winner will serve two years.
Lynch has not declared if he wants to be considered for the Democratic nomination.
“I don’t know how much time I’m given,” he said. “I have some decisions to make. But I’m all in.”
(This story was edited to include information about the late F.E. Whitney, the first African American to serve as Hopkinsville mayor.)
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
