Younger Lovelace Power (1907-1958)

From the Ilion Sentinel, March 1, 1952.

  Following on the heels of Ballston Spa mayor Purcell Dow Ball, another curiously named New York mayor receives a write-up, Younger Lovelace Power of Ilion. A transplant to Herkimer County, New York from Virginia, Power was a physician and served as Ilion's mayor for three terms. The son of Edward O. and Mattie S. Power, Younger Lovelace Power was born in Virginia in 1907. His early life was spent in Staunton in Pittsylvania County, and after deciding upon a career in medicine enrolled at the Medical College of Virginia, graduating in the class of 1932. 

   Following his graduation, Younger L. Power interned at the Hazleton State Hospital in Pennsylvania in 1933 and during his residency married in that city on January 17, 1934, to Cleo L. Boock (1911-1954). The couple later had two children, Mary Susan (born in 1935 in Hazleton, Pennsylvania) and Younger Lovelace Jr. (born in 1936). Of these children, Mary Susan Power would go on to a distinguished career as a political scientist, and in 1972, 1976, and 1988 was an alternate delegate to the Republican National Convention from Arkansas.

  Power resettled in Ilion in Herkimer County, New York in the mid-1930s, and was a physician at the Ilion Hospital, as well as chief company physician for the Remington Arms Co. factory, also located in Ilion. Power would become active in the affairs of his community and after more than a decade of residence in the town entered into the race for Ilion mayor in early 1948. That March Power defeated Republican candidate L.H. Burnham by a vote of 1,535 to 1,343, and in an Ilion Sentinel notice on his election, Power outlined his ideas for a successful, people-centric mayoralty:

"This is the way I feel about it. We are handling taxpayers' money and for that reason no individual should take any final decisions upon himself in regards to finances or other important matters...If things go wrong, lets not get off in a corner somewhere and growl about it. Let's bring it up here and thrash it out. There is no reason why we can't make Ilion an even better place to live in. I'm proud to live here now and I think we can make Ilion the best town in northern New York."

  Dr. Y.L. Power's first term as mayor saw a resolution passed that increased the mayoral term from one year to two and launched his re-election bid in February 1949, running against Republican town trustee Frank Sheffield. In the lead-up to the March election, the Power administration could boast of a number of betterments for the town, including a workable plumbing code, as well as:

"Functioning water softenings and sewage disposal plants, new street signs; considerable new rolling equipment for the Street department; a new Street department garage; new street lights; extension of Elm Street and South Fifth Avenue and a study of the storm water sewer system with the idea for improvements."

  In early March Power defeated Sheffield by a vote of 1,950 to 1,447, in a contest described in the Herkimer Evening Telegram as "the heaviest village election in recent years."

From the Ilion Sentinel, February 24, 1949.

  Power's second term as mayor extended until 1951, and during this term, he and the village of Ilion played host to the Northern New York Methodist Conference in May 1950, a conference that saw the arrival of several hundred delegates, which in turn provided a boost to the local economy. He would win a third term as mayor in March 1951 and served until 1953, not being a candidate for reelection. 

  One year after leaving the mayor's office Power was dealt a severe blow with the death of his wife Cleo at the age of just 42, her death occurring in March 1954 "after a long illness." Power was dealt a further blow in August 1956 when he was involved in a two-car accident near Dolgeville, New York that necessitated a few days of recuperation at Ilion Hospital. Younger L. Power died suddenly at his Ilion home on March 4, 1958, aged 50. An exact burial location for him remains unknown at this time but likely is at the Armory Hill Cemetery in Ilion, the resting place of his wife Cleo.

Mayor Power at a board of trustees meeting, from the Ilion Sentinel, March 1, 1951. 

From the Hazleton Plain Speaker, March 5, 1958.

From the Utica Observer, March 8, 1958.