Finding a space to name for Harper a growing challenge

The Nye County Board of Commissioners are running into unexpected roadblocks as they considered renaming Blosser Park after Pahrump’s Goodwill Ambassador Butch Harper, who died at age 73 in February.

Commissioner Butch Borasky, who authored the agenda item, said he was not able to contact the surviving Blosser family to seek permission for the proposal.

“I put this on the agenda because I wanted people to be aware that we are working on trying to get something,” he said. “Several members of the community asked me to go in this direction, but I don’t intend to rename Blosser Park, Butch Harper Memorial Park because I am unable to talk to any of the Blosser family.”

Blosser Park is located at 2300 N. David St., on the valley’s north side.

Commission Chairwoman Lorinda Wichman reminded fellow board members that the park was in fact originally named in appreciation of Pahrump’s Blosser family decades ago and the board should not lose sight of that fact.

“I don’t think there’s an expiration date on a ‘thank you,’” she said.

Resident Eddie Jim agreed with Wichman and said he personally knew the Blosser family. He said the park should not be renamed after Harper. Jim noted that for decades, the Blosser name and farming in the Pahrump Valley went hand-in-hand.

“They put a lot of blood and sweat in this community and farming was not an easy thing to do when they were here,” he said. “This is on their property that they once owned and they have a right to have a street and a park named after them. To share that with someone else that just came into this community is wrong in my personal opinion.”

A Ted Blosser is listed in a 1965 edition of Pahrump’s phone book, but no current Blosser listings exist.

The Blosser name is joined by several other recognizable names to this day including Floyd, Hafen, Simkins and Ruud.

Richard Goldstein of the Pahrump Veterans Memorial Advisory Board said he and fellow board members discussed memorializing Harper through the veterans board, but were initially unsuccessful in reaching an agreement.

“Last month our board talked about doing something for Butch and at the time, there was talk of the county naming a park,” he said. “The board wasn’t real thrilled with my idea until we knew what the county was going to do about the park.” Goldstein said.

The veterans advisory board is now considering naming the multi-purpose room at the veterans section of the Chief Tecopa Cemetery after Harper.

“This is something that we could bring up again,” Goldstein said. “We were thinking of naming the multi-purpose room, the ‘Butch Harper Pahrump Veterans Memorial Multi-Purpose Room’ because he did a lot during the construction phase. Again, we can bring this up again if there is a problem with trying to name a park after him.”

Borasky, who wanted to make sure that he was not going to rename Blosser Park without first consulting with the Blosser family, gave his blessings to the veterans advisory board for their efforts to memorialize Harper.

“I meant no disrespect to the family whatsoever,” he said. “I was hoping that I could get a hold of them, but I would like Mr. Goldstein to pursue that and see where it leads us.”

Locally, Harper is credited with starting Pahrump’s Act of Kindness Award several years ago, where he would personally present an inscribed plaque to local individuals who worked to make Pahrump a nicer community.

Harper also worked with children for many years with his “Smiles across Pahrump” project.

County commissioners deemed the renaming of the park, would honor Harper’s memory within the community.

Harper’s first goodwill effort began in 2009, when a local boy with cancer wanted to set the world record for the most business cards collected by a single person.

Harper helped 10-year-old Brandon Rayner collect more than 1 million cards before he succumbed to the disease. It was Rayner, Harper said, who inspired the act of kindness award.

“He was a fighter and he never gave up,” Harper said at the time. “He was an inspiration for me. He was my little soldier. Anyone who doesn’t understand why I do what I do should visit a children’s hospital and see the children that you know will never go to the prom or graduate high school. It breaks my heart.”

Aside from the act of kindness award, Harper also took it upon himself to help fellow veterans in and around the Pahrump Valley.

He was well known for collecting buttons, patches and insignias to display in a framed collage saluting the military, military veterans and first responders.

Additionally, Harper helped local senior citizens with various necessities, or he would round up contributions to help purchase them.

He was also known on more than one occasion to pay a bill for someone or buy them groceries.

“I can’t stop. I just never learned to say no,” Harper once said. “I know just about everyone here. I can make a few phone calls and get some things done.”