{"id":9082,"date":"2023-07-27T14:01:24","date_gmt":"2023-07-27T14:01:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=9082"},"modified":"2023-07-27T14:01:24","modified_gmt":"2023-07-27T14:01:24","slug":"in-loving-memory-of-weldon-douthitt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2023\/07\/27\/in-loving-memory-of-weldon-douthitt\/","title":{"rendered":"In Loving Memory of Weldon Douthitt"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_9083\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9083\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-9083\" src=\"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Weldon-Douthitt-addresses-crowd.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-9083\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Weldon Douthitt addresses crowd<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>March 18, 1933 \u2013 July 14, 2023<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mr. Weldon Douthitt, my Godfather, a construction and political genius, and a dear friend and support to many, has gone on to Glory.<\/p>\n<p>Weldon was born on March 18, 1933 in Columbus, Ohio and came to Toledo, Ohio in 1954.\u00a0 And we all the better for his physical and active presence on this earth, in the City of Toledo, and the great State of Ohio at large.<\/p>\n<p>Through his construction work, Weldon repaired homes and improved the quality of life for countless Toledo residents.\u00a0 And his active and relentless involvement in Toledo politics brought about immeasurable and historical change.\u00a0 During his storied and remarkable career, Weldon was senior advisor and campaign manager to Ohio Senator Paula Hicks-Hudson, who was the first Black female mayor of Toledo.<\/p>\n<p>Weldon was also senior advisor and campaign manager to the late Mayor Jack Ford.\u00a0 Mayor Jack Ford was also a member and president of Toledo City Council, an Ohio State Legislator, and the first African-American elected as House Caucus Leader in Ohio.\u00a0 And Ford preceded Hicks-Hudson as Toledo\u2019s first African-American Mayor.<\/p>\n<p>For over 30 years, Weldon worked on campaigns for mayors, judges, county commissioners, city council and school board members, state representatives, members of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate, and even for presidents of the United States, which include Former President Bill Clinton and Former Vice President Al Gore!\u00a0\u00a0 Weldon was a community leader, a civil and voting rights champion, and an inspiration to people far and wide.\u00a0 <strong>Some people are not aware of his extensive involvement in the political arena because he was a humble servant who just did the job.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We are so grateful for his leadership and for his example in politics and construction and all he did to provide and increase opportunities for minority contractors in the City of Toledo.\u00a0\u00a0 Mr. Weldon Douthitt is a model for what it means to engage in steadfast and relentless efforts to make Ohio a better, fairer, and more inclusive State.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Weldon, you said, \u201cI will give out before I give up\u201d and that\u2019s exactly what you did!<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell-Done, Brotha\u2019 Weldon.\u00a0 Well-Done.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Love,<\/p>\n<p><em>Your Goddaughter LaFonda Willis\u2014and countless Toledo residents who love and admire you, including Arthur Taylor, Alan Bannister, Bill &amp; Derrick Mosley (posthumously), and Regina Willis (posthumously). \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>March 18, 1933 \u2013 July 14, 2023 Mr. Weldon Douthitt, my Godfather, a construction and political genius, and a dear friend and support to many, has gone on to Glory. Weldon was born on March 18, 1933 in Columbus, Ohio and came to Toledo, Ohio in 1954.\u00a0 And we all the better for his physical [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,17],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[185],"class_list":["post-9082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headline","category-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9082"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9084,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9082\/revisions\/9084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9082"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=9082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}