By Eric Hartley
The Virginian-Pilot
NORFOLK
Philpotts Road was once a narrow, often-flooded country lane.
Today, it’s a modern city street, thanks to neighborhood efforts led by Walter Green, a civil rights activist and community leader who lived on the road.
The City Council voted Tuesday to rename Philpotts Road in Green’s honor. At the request of his family, it will become Walter H. Green Sr. Road.
Green, who died last year at 81, was married to Alveta Green, a former member of Norfolk’s School Board and City Council.
“We are proud and humbled that the city is recognizing all his work,” Alveta Green said Saturday.
Mayor Paul Fraim, whose last meeting in office was Tuesday, told city staff recently he wanted to ensure the honor happened while Alveta Green, now 81, can enjoy it.
The new name will be ceremonial, and the street will remain Philpotts Road for official purposes.
The council ordinance says Walter Green chaired the Philpotts Road Improvement Group and helped gather signatures on petitions to improve the road, which runs between Tidewater Drive and Sewells Point Road. His wife said he walked up and down the road gathering signatures on the petition to improve it.
Alveta Green said the area, previously part of Norfolk County, had been annexed into the city in 1955. The city bought land for road improvements in 1967, she said, but it took more than 20 years of asking – and finally a petition drive – to get the work done in the early 1990s.
Walter Green was the first black guidance counselor and varsity sports coach at Norview High School, the city ordinance says.
Pilot columnist Roger Chesley reported last year that Green was a basketball star at Booker T. Washington High School and is a member of the Hampton Roads African American Sports Hall of Fame.
In addition to his work as an educator, he was the first black person appointed to the Norfolk Civil Service Commission and the state’s Capital Punishment Advisory Committee.
Green and his wife helped Joe Jordan become the first black city councilman in modern history and worked to encourage black people to vote.
Many civil rights strategy sessions, Chesley reported, took place in the Greens’ home on the road that will now bear his name.
Eric Hartley, 757-932-7511, eric.hartley@pilotonline.com
Posted By: How May I Help You NC
Thursday, June 30th 2016 at 11:24AM
You can also
click
here to view all posts by this author...
