County commissioner John Paisley, Jr. has died.
Paisley had been elected in 2020 and reelected in 2024 after having filled in on the board of commissioners for a partial term in 2014.
Most recently, Paisley, 76, had served several years as chairman of the board of commissioners before stepping aside as chairman in December in favor of Kelly Allen.
Paisley, a long-time lawyer in Graham, had struggled with increasing immobility over the past year, attending many meetings in a wheelchair. At other times, he participated remotely from home by Zoom technology.
While he was still chairman, a special location for Paisley had been established on the commissioners’ hearing room floor, inasmuch as he had been unable to ascend to the raised dais.
He’s missed several of the board’s recent semi-monthly meetings.
Paisley had been a champion for lower property tax rates, voting against rate increases contained in the budgets adopted by his colleagues in 2025, 2024, and 2023.
[Story continues below photo collage of Paisley through the years.]
In addition to his elected post, Paisley had been a staple of several other local boards: a Republican member and past chairman of the Alamance County board of elections; a member and past chairman of the Alamance-Caswell Mental Health Board. He had also been active with the county’s bar association.
Only a few years earlier, Paisley was an avid hot air balloonist, frequently traveling to New Mexico for one of the country’s most popular balloon festivals.
Paisley, himself an Eagle Scout as a youth, was also active in the Boy Scouts of America, as well as the local Civitans and Jaycees civic organizations.
Paisley, an Elon College graduate (1970), has also served on the university’s Alumni Board, and was a graduate of Wake Forest Law School (1973).
Paisley is survived by his wife of 52 years, Joyce, as well as three adult daughters and one son and their families: Janet K. Paisley; Susan Hedrick; John Paisley, III; and Elizabeth Paisley.
A visitation with the family will be conducted Thursday from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Lowe Funeral Home in Burlington. A funeral service will be conducted Friday at 11:00 a.m. at Graham Presbyterian Church.
A private burial will be conducted at a family plot at Bethel Presbyterian Church in McLeansville.
Meanwhile, the commissioners are scheduled to meet Monday night at 6:30 p.m. in their meeting chambers in the County Office Building.
