Dover mayor talks new town businesses, economic future

Feb. 02--Dover Mayor John Wetherington's roots run deep in his hometown.

They stretch back to his mother's people, the Whitleys, who came to Dover in the early 1930s. As Wetherington tells it, his father's side of the family was originally from Carteret County, having made their way up through Piney Neck and Onslow County before arriving in the small, rural community.

"My granddaddy was a blacksmith, couldn't write his name but he could take a piece of metal and do anything with it," says Wetherington. "My dad was a carpenter, a good one. We didn't have a lot and didn't know we didn't have it."

Wetherington, who was born in 1941, recalls that two railroad services ran through Dover when he was a boy.

"I grew up here like everybody else. You go to school in and school out and never leave town. Go around barefooted and everyone knew everybody. Back then there were 650 people here, now it's down to like 425. Most of it is because people migrated out," he says.

After graduating from Dover High School is 1959, Wetherington became one of those migrants, signing up for a stint in the Coast Guard. Four years later he came back to Dover and joined Woodmen of the World, the not-for-profit fraternal insurance company, and was soon transferred to Kinston, where he worked as a local manager. After 11 years, Wetherington relocated to Macon, Ga., where he spent 18 years before retiring in 2003 at age 61.

And then he came back home.

"I always told 'em, 'I'm coming back, in a box, whatever, but I'm coming back," he insists.

Wetherington said his time in the insurance business instilled in him a stubborn patience and refusal to quit, traits that have served him well since returning to Dover.

As the second of three generations to be elected to the Dover Town Council (his grandfather served as does his son, John Wetherington, III), the Dover native said he feels a responsibility to work for the town's improvement.

In recent years, that work has begun to pay off.

A new Family Dollar store is being constructed on the east end of town. According to Wetherington, construction on the store should be completed by the end of March.

"It's been three years since I made my first telephone call to try to get that store here," said Wetherington. "But I worked on life insurance sales for as much as three years, so I don't give up. I ain't going to quit. Don't tell me I can't do it. There are people out there willing and ready to do something if you'll ask them."

In 2016, the mayor was able to secure a $250,000 Trillium grant to build a new town playground.

"I hand delivered the grant proposal to their office in Greenville. I was looking for $25,000 or $30,000. We've got a nice park out there. We put new fences up, we've got a new basketball goal," he says.

Wetherington said he also received a $10,000 grant from the Bate Foundation that was used to build a track at the town park.

Though the 76-year-old may move a little slower these days due to recent knee replacement surgery, he says his resolve to bring new business and recreational opportunities to Dover has remained undimmed. He points to the success of Lenny's & VC Grill & Catering, which is built on property he owns, as well as the new collectibles store, A Touch of Classic, that opened in town last year.

"When I left to go in the Coast Guard, there were like 10 or 12 stores around here. Of course they all sold the same things, but they were here," Wetherington recalls.

Wetherington said he has three Dover-area projects he would like to see completed in his lifetime: a community medical clinic, a town library, and a local gas station.

"The community clinic is going to be my next project. The library, that is the one thing that has kicked me around for the last six years. I just can't get it jumped. I've got the books and stuff for it and the furniture but I don't have anything to go with it. And as far as a gas station, we haven't been able to buy gas here since the environmentalists took all our tanks, which were underground," said Wetherington.

Wetherington said he believes Dover could be the site of a thriving retirement community, if investors could be found for new housing projects.

"I get calls every week that someone wants to move here, but we don't have anywhere for them," he says. "I've done everything I can to get an apartment project off the ground. If I had 100 units of two- and three-bedroom houses right here today, I'd have them all rented before next year at this time, every one of them. But I can't get anyone to believe that but me."

A recent recipient of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the prestigious state service award presented for community service, Wetherington said he'll continue to fight for his town's success.

"We have so much potential here. We just have to have something to go with it," he said. "But I'll get it, or at least some of it."

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