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Mayor Hubert Gregory has been a staple in the Yadkinville community for many years.

He has served 14 years as mayor to the town and served as a commissioner for four years prior to being appointed mayor. Civil service and leadership has always been a part of his life.

Gregory was born in Wilkes County and resided in Yadkin County until his father’s death. His teenage years were spent with his mother in Winston-Salem until his mother remarried and the family returned to Yadkin County.

After he turned 18 he was drafted into the Army and completed his service in Berlin, Germany.

Upon returning home he took a job working for the Hanes Corporation. After some corporate restructuring at Hanes, Gregory decided to move to a company that functioned as a JC Penny supplier. He spent the remainder of his career with that company.

Gregory married and had one child. His son, Binky Lee Gregory, was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis and lived to be 19-years-old.

“Binky had surgery the day he was born and was kept in an incubator,” Gregory said. “I took him a pacifier that said ‘Binky Manufacturing Company’ on it. I passed the nurse the pacifier and she brought it to another nurse and said ‘here’s a binky pacifier,’ another nurse says ‘Binky, here’s your pacifier’ so when I came back to the hospital his name was Binky.”

Gregory faced many challenges with the disability of his son.

“He was the only child ever to live in Yadkin County that was refused the right to go to school here,” Gregory said.

Gregory later learned that his dentist had a friend who was a former schoolmate of Ted Kennedy. Kennedy had a sister who was also mentally handicapped and after Gregory’s story was passed along, a law was passed that required that any child suffering from a medical condition that prevents him or her from being in a classroom will have the educational tools necessary to receive an education at home.

“That law provides everything for a school age child. If anything medical happens that prevents a child from being in the classroom, the law allows the school to come to the child,” Gregory said. “Not only did it help my son, it helped every other child and it will always help every other child born into the United States after the law was passed.”

Gregory has also been an active member in the Yadkin County branch of the Arc of the United States for 40 years as well as board member and board chair of the Surry, Yadkin and Iredell Counties Mental Health Board for 10 years.

“[Binky] inspired all of us with all the things he accomplished in his life,” Gregory said. “He was very active, and he got to do a lot of things and he got to teach a lot of us in the family a lot of things.”

Gregory has seen the town accomplish many things during his tenure as mayor. The building of the town hall, police department and public works buildings and the local park have all been accomplished during his time.

“The park has done as much for the community as anything else,” Gregory said. “It’s tremendous value to our citizens. It is tremendous in the way it appears to our citizens. “

Gregory also played an integral part in the creation of the interchange between UNIFI and the YMCA as well as the service road by McDonalds at Highway 421.

“I knew where the buttons were and how to push them, and I got several things accomplished here that Yadkin County and the town of Yadkinville benefited from,” Gregory said.

Gregory does not plan to run for mayor again once he reaches the end of this term, however, he does hope to still be involved in civic work after he retires

“I will definitely be involved in some civic work if anyone will have me,” Gregory said.