Former Mayor and City Commissioner and also former mayor of Villa Hills, Irvin T. “Butch” Callery, died Sunday.
Callery, who lived in Villa Hills, served on the Covington City Commission from 1980 through 2000 and was Mayor from 2001 through 2008. He was also Mayor of the City of Villa Hills from 2015 through 2018.
“Butch first entered politics as a fierce advocate for the Latonia neighborhood and wound up giving decades of his life to the residents of this community,” Mayor Joe Meyer said. “His love for Covington was rivaled only by his love for his wife, Joyce, to whom he was married for almost 52 years, and perhaps to the Cincinnati Reds.”
With 29 years in office in Covington, he is thought to have been the longest-serving elected official in the city’s history. He is also one of the few people – if not the only person – to have served as mayor of two different cities in Northern Kentucky.
He was named the “Elected Official of the Year” in 2017 by the Kentucky League of Cities.
Callery was also a member of the Northern Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame and a long-time coach and sponsor of local baseball and softball teams. In 1962, he was invited to try out for both the Cincinnati Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Callery, who was 83 when he died, was a member of Holy Cross Parish in Latonia, according to the family’s obituary. He is survived by a daughter, three sons, eight grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren. His wife, Joyce, died in 2019.
Visitation will take place on Thursday, April 18, 2024 from 4 p.m. until the Eulogy at 5:50 p.m., followed by the Mass of Christian Burial at 6 p.m. at Holy Cross Church, 3612 Church Street, Covington (Latonia). Interment and Committal Service will take place on Friday, April 19, 2024 at 10 a.m. at Mother of God Cemetery, 3125 Madison Avenue, Fort Wright. Memorials are suggested to: St. Walburg Monastery, 2500 Amsterdam Road, Villa Hills, KY. 41017.
His obituary can be found here.
City of Covington