Former Westfield Mayor, Scotch Plains Native Remembered

Former Westfield Mayor Garland "Bud" Boothe, Jr. is being remembered for his energy, outside-the-box thinking and dedication to Westfield and town history following his death last week.

Boothe, a Scotch Plains native who served as Westfield's mayor for five years in the 1990s, passed away last week at the age of 76 following a long illness. Boothe's widow, Gaile, has announced that a public memorial service will be held on Dec. 19 at St. Paul's Episcopal Church on East Broad Street. The time of the service has not been determined.

Boothe is being remembered for a variety of accomplishments, both during his tenure as mayor and second ward councilman and as an active community volunteer. Among his accomplishments are the creation of Westfield's special improvement district, the planning and construction of both phases of senior housing in town, the establishment of the town's first four way stop at the intersection at Elmer Street and Lenox Avenue, the creation of the trolley tour of downtown history, authoring a guidebook for downtown walking tours, designing and constructing a three dimensional model of the town's geographic history, obtaining the historic Reeve House for the town and historical society and creating a burma shave of town history.

"He will go down as a giant in the history of the town," said former Westfield Mayor Tom Jardim, who succeeded Boothe in 1997.

To read a full profile of Booth, go here.