A former Autauga County Commission leader is honored for his work at a period of rapid expansion and change.
Pace spent one term on the commission from 1996 to 2000. District 4’s commission chairman. Pace, 90, died March 15.
Pace was honored by the county commission at their most recent meeting. Tenaska chose Autauga County to develop a power plant, and Prattville won the Robert Trent Jones golf trial at Capitol Hill. Pace also finished plans for the Autauga Metro Jail, which integrated operations for the Autauga County Jail and Prattville City Jail, and a new probate office, which started a building binge that freed up courthouse space.
Clyde Chambliss, R-Prattville, served on the commission before becoming a state senator.
Chambliss says he learnt a lot from Pace. He led us to great success. He launched most of the county’s current activity.”
Retail politics. Face-to-face engagement and shoe leather burning are abundant. Pace drove around and talked to people, checking on things in his area and across the county.
Deatsville native Pace joined the Air Force after high school. Fighter and reconnaissance aircraft crew chief in the Korean War. He lost his right arm in a 1995 vehicle accident near Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. Recovery took six months.
He often made fun of himself despite losing his arm. He posed with a golf club on a Capitol Hill tee box.
After the accident, he spent 25 years in civil service at Maxwell Air Force Base and real estate. Autauga Academy’s first football coach. After entering politics, he sat on the Department of Youth Services board, the local AARP chapter, and the Republican party committee.
Left, 90-year-old W.O. “Bill” Pace died March 15.
He loved gardening and his tractor.
His civic service legacy endures. After 11 years as District Judge, his daughter Joy Pace Booth was elected Circuit Judge in 2022.