Mayor Hambley: Cut-Thru was ‘an act of God’

Mayor Hambley: Cut-Thru was ‘an act of God’. . In a coma for 11 days due to typhoid fever, young Billy Hambley saw an “enormous sphere of brilliant white light, a crystal-clear ball,” that hovered over him for some time. As he matured, he wondered what the sphere meant as he pondered his purpose in life. While in elementary school, he sat on one side of the tracks and listened to congregational singing at the African-American church on the other side of the tracks. He was amazed that the people coming out of the church were so happy when they had so little. He also noticed that the railroad tracks divided Pikeville College into an upper and lower campus. , When he finished his secondary education at Pikeville College Academy, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree at Notre Dame University and then his Doctor of Medicine (MD) from Northwestern University in Chicago. After two and a half years as a world war two army surgeon, including 180 consecutive days performing surgeries at Mayo General Hospital and a deployment to the Philippines, he returned to Chicago, earned a Master of Science in Anatomy, and finished his surgical residency at Hines Veterans Hospital, Hines, Illinois. "I couldn't extricate myself from my universe of concern in Pikeville. I wanted to come back and serve my own people. In 1954, Hambley came home with his wife, Alberta (Bert) and their three children, Mary Catherine, William Carter Hambley III (JR), and Barbara. Their youngest child, John, was born in Pikeville. , That same year Hambley was appointed to the Pikeville Planning Commission, where he discussed his boyhood dream of getting the railroad out of town and eliminating substandard housing. By the time he was sworn in as mayor in 1960, the Commission’s infrastructure priorities had been agreed upon. There were plenty of skeptics, people who believed it impossible to move the river and the railroad out of town or thought there was no way the city could afford such lofty goals. , Hambley was not deterred. Unfazed by criticism, he persuaded the Commissioners to enact an occupational tax so the city could match federal and state grants, allowing Pikeville to begin its extraordinary transformation process. At the Cut-Thru ribbon-cutting ceremony, Mayor Hambley said this: “I'm surrounded by the people who made this possible. It's ridiculous to think one person alone did this! Pikeville is the greatest place in the world to live. The Cut-Thru is only a mere punctuation point in Pikeville’s history because so much remains to be done.” He lived out his life purpose by embracing his role as the leader of Pikeville's transformation, motivated by his firm belief that all the necessary elements that came together in this particular place and time were “an act of God.” , (sidebar) , Text of letter to Mayor Hambley from President Nixon

The White House , Washington, DC , January 24, 1972 , Dear Mayor Hambley: , As I have informed Governor Ford, my 1973 Budget Message to the Congress includes a request for funds to permit the Corps of Engineers to participate in the model community development project for the City of Pikesville. , The $1 million I have requested will be transferred to the Appalachian Regional Commission, to the utilized with other funds available to the Commission, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the necessary State and local matching funds. The purposes of the project will be to relocate the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River, U.S. Highways 23 and 119, and the C&O Railroad tracks and coal-loading facilities. , It has been deeply encouraging to me to observe the cooperative effects of the many public and private interests involved in this exciting project. Not only have Pikeville and the Commonwealth of Kentucky created a plan to revitalize part of rural America, you have also shown how people and governments can work together to meet the challenges of achieving a better quality of life. , With my best wishes, , Sincerely, , //Richard Nixon//