Clanton’s longtime mayor, Billie Joe Driver, died on Thursday at age 84 after being hospitalized for a week with COVID-19.

The news was first reported by WSFA in Montgomery. Clanton Mayor Pro-Tem Bobby Cook confirmed the news to CBS42.

Driver had been hospitalized at St. Vincent’s in Birmingham for the last week.

He was first elected mayor of Clanton in 1984, and served 12 years on the Clanton City Council before that. Driver never lost a race in his decades of involvement in city politics.

Clanton is a town of around 8,700 people in Chilton County, midway between Montgomery and Birmingham. Its famous peach-shaped water tower is widely recognized across the state.

Driver’s daughter told the Clanton Advertiser earlier in the week that the “hardest part” of her father’s stay in the hospital had been the rule that no visitors were allowed in his room, not even family.

The Clanton Fire Department wrote on Facebook that Driver’s “love for our city runs deep and he will be greatly missed by many!”

“We ask that you continue to remember our Mayor in your thoughts and prayers,” the department added.

UPDATE 4:50 p.m.

Governor Kay Ivey released a statement, saying, “Today, the state of Alabama lost a valued public servant of many years, Mayor Billy Joe Driver.”

“After his battle with COVID-19, Mayor Driver passed on to his eternal home,” she continued. “He will truly be missed in his home of Clanton, but also by many of us across the state. I offer my heartfelt prayers to his loved ones, friends and the city of Clanton in their tremendous time of loss.”

According to the governor’s office, Ivey will authorize the City of Clanton to fly flags at half-staff on Driver’s day of interment.

Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: [email protected] or on Twitter @HenryThornton95