West Virginia native Bill Withers has been honored with a road named in his honor. “Bill Withers Memorial Road” is the new name for Slab Fork Road from the Lester Highway to the Coalfields Expressway in Raleigh County, the state Department of Transportation said.
The musician died at the age of 81 in 2020. He is best known for writing and recording “Ain’t No Sunshine,” “Lovely Day,” and “Lean on Me.” He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2015. The Division of Highways installed a sign last week renaming the road.
The move was passed by the West Virginia Legislature last month. “The uplifting messages in some of his songs really helped us get through the last year we’ve had,” Deputy Secretary of Transportation Jimmy Wriston said in a news release. Withers grew up in Slab Fork and Tom Sopher, president of the Raleigh County Historical Society said, “He’s a legend and for him. For him to be from Raleigh County and born in Slap Fork and raised right outside of beckley. I mean it is important to all of us and we should never forget him and his songs will never die.”
The marker is across the street from Stratton Elementary School, which was Wither’s former high school.
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