Don Colvin was the state’s longest-serving town supervisor when he left office at the end of 2007.

He was 80 at the time and not in the best of health, but he didn’t leave because he wanted to retire or because he thought he was too ill to keep going.

Far from it, actually.

Colvin went down fighting at the polls — and, in 2009, launched one last campaign to try to get his seat back.

Nobody was surprised. Colvin, who died Friday at age 87, never quit.

“I’m a survivor,” Colvin said in 2007, when the Chamber of Commerce gave him a lifetime achievement award. “It’s been a long ride, but truly, the Lord has been good to me.”

Colvin dominated Savannah’s politics — and often Wayne County’s — for more than half his life. His impact extended well beyond local government, though.

Colvin help found the Wayne County Action Program, more commonly known as Wayne CAP. He was an active board member until his death and had only resigned as its chairman in December.

“He really believed in what he did,” said Janelle Cooper, Wayne CAP’s CEO. “He didn’t do it for the recognition. He didn’t do it for his name in the paper and a photo in the paper. He did it because it was the right thing to do.”

Like any long-serving politician, Colvin sometimes found himself mired in controversy. As he once put it, he’d been around so long that his friends had died and his enemies had accumulated. Colvin responded to such things as he always had: He shrugged it off as politics and went his own way.

That was evident at his last Board of Supervisors meeting in 2007. Colvin made a final push on a favorite cause, trying to get his colleagues to stop sharing sales tax revenue with local schools. While the idea has since gained supporters, Colvin found himself in a familiar position that day — the only one in favor of it.

He showed the same iconoclastic streak during some of his final campaigns. Although Colvin was a lifelong Republican, he ran as an independent when he lost at the party caucus.

Opposing candidates sometimes accused him of benign neglect or of being behind the times. Supporters suggest he was actually ahead of them.

“Once he had a burr under his tail, he hung right with it,” said Butler Supervisor David Spickerman, who served with Colvin for decades. “He had a real vision. He was doing things back [then], probably even before I got on the board, in terms of local governments doing things for each other and consolidation.”

Colvin said he did it all for his town.

“Savannah has been my whole life,” Colvin said in 2003. “It’s been a passion to do things for the town.”

Born in neighboring Butler, Colvin served in the Korean War and returned home to open a funeral business in Savannah.

He was elected town supervisor in 1959 and took his seat in 1960. He kept it through 48 years and 24 elections.

“When he first got into it, it was just a part-time job to make some extra money,” Spickerman said. “Then, when he got into it, he saw how important the issues were.”

Colvin’s supporters say he helped the town transition away from a farm-based economy. He championed the construction of the Montezuma Audubon Center and helped the community recover after Hurricane Agnes destroyed the dikes that protected its rich muckland.

Colvin was elected chairman of the county Board of Supervisors in 1966, serving until he stepped down in 1973. He became chairman of the board’s Finance Committee in 1980 and kept that post until he left office.

During most of that time, his brother-in-law, Wolcott Supervisor Marvin Decker, chaired the board.

Colvin helped establish the Wayne County Industrial Development Agency, the Planning Department, the Wayne Area Transportation System and the Wayne County Water Authority. He also led the way on the construction of the new Wayne County Nursing Home, the place where he died.

Colvin tended to avoid long speeches at county meetings — but when he did speak, it mattered. He knew the board’s bylaws better than anyone, and he would often remember an obscure rule and use it to advance his causes.

“He had an incredible memory,” Spickerman said. “Since the first day he started he could tell you when and how and why. That was always pretty helpful.”

Spickerman also remembered Colvin as a conciliator. During one heated meeting early in Spickerman’s tenure, another supervisor pulled off his sports jacket and challenged Colvin to meet him outside. 

“Are you crazy? I’m an old man!” Colvin exclaimed while defusing the situation. 

Other disputes ended as soon as the board adjourned for lunch. Colvin never held a grudge, Spickerman said.

Of course, that didn’t mean he wasn’t persistent.

In Savannah, Colvin ran a series of races against Ed Williams, the former village mayor. When Republicans nominated Williams for supervisor in 2005, Colvin ran and won as an independent.

Two years later, Colvin tried the same strategy when Republicans nominated Ken Lauderdale. This time, he lost. In 2009, Colvin ran for the final time, saying he wanted to hit his 50th anniversary as supervisor before retiring. Colvin secured the Republican nomination but lost to Lauderdale, who took a page from Colvin’s book and ran on an independent line.

“The reason I ran was so that [Lauderdale] wouldn’t get a free ride,” Colvin said prior to election day. “Apparently, people aren’t happy with the way things are going. They threw me out, and they wanted change. Apparently, they didn’t want as much change as they got.”

Cooper said Colvin devoted his time and energy to Wayne CAP after he left his town and county positions. The organization had been a favorite cause of his since he helped establish the agency in 1966 after meeting with Rep. Frank Horton and Sen. Robert Kennedy at Trombino’s Restaurant in Lyons.

“There was money coming down from the federal government for this new thing called a Community Action Agency,” Cooper said. “Several counties actually refused the money, but Don said this would be a great thing for Wayne County. … He saw it as the county government has a certain role, and the private sector has a certain role, and you’ve also got the Department of Social Services, which serves a certain role. ... I think he really saw this money as a way to fill in the cracks.”

Wayne CAP’s fundraising arm was named the Colvin Foundation in his honor. Colvin never publicized it, but he made significant donations to the fund, Cooper said.

Colvin’s positive attitude also resonated with Wayne CAP staff and board members.

“When he smiled, he almost reminded you of a little kid still, because he smiled with that smile of a little kid that was up to something,” Cooper said.

Colvin is survived by his wife of 65 years, Lynn; a son; several grandchildren; and several siblings. He was predeceased by a daughter in 2011.

Article originally published by the Finger Lakes Times on April 30, 2014 by Jim Miller. View the original article here. View Don Colvin's obituary here.