J.P. Paige, Norfolk Councilman – “The Name Paige Literally Means Servant”

By Terrance Afer-Anderson
Special to the New Journal and Guide

Part One

If you ever sat down for a one-on-one conversation with Ward 4 Norfolk City Councilman John J.P. Paige, you’d soon realize that he is a man who has absorbed and closely scrutinized disparate experiences in his life, not only to assess how he might grow from them but to also discern how he might help others, to serve. 

I interviewed him recently in his City Council offices and there were two things that instantly impressed me. First, he received several calls from citizens confidently seeking his assistance, whom he did indeed serve. It was also a wondrously impactful thing to observe the great love he and his granddaughter McKenzie so conspicuously share.

Five-year-old McKenzie quietly, and patiently, joined us for most of the interview and it was plain to see that she, at once, not only sees her grandfather as the gentle giant who provides shelter for every measure of her being, but despite her conversely diminutive frame, she is ready to protect him at all costs. She watched. She studied. She listened. She stood on guard.

Even on January 1, 2023, on the occasion of the Councilman being sworn in, then two-year-old McKenzie demanded to intervene. 

He stopped the proceedings, picked his granddaughter up in his massive arms, and held her throughout the ceremony. He keeps a photo prominently on his desk preserving that precious moment.

I also soon realized that this interview was an occasion to have the Councilman tell his own story. It follows, in his words.

***

“I was raised by my mother, no father in the picture at all. I had six uncles. Each one played a role in my development. My grandfather raised me as if I was his. Mr. Riddick (the late former Norfolk vice-mayor and city councilman whose seat he fills) was like a father to me my entire life. Mr. Riddick used to say I was the ‘ugliest baby’ he’d ever seen (freely chuckling).

“Football was my first athletic passion … until I started growing. My legs were long, my body was short, and my arms were long. It gave some indication that I would probably be pretty tall. So, I picked up a basketball, even though I liked football more. But with basketball, my game developed and got to a point that, after one year of sitting on the bench, I started everywhere I played. After the second year, I was the best player on any team I played. I could dunk by the time I was in the 8th grade.

“I started off at St. Mary’s … won a championship …  went over to Blessed Sacrament … won a championship. There have always been adult voices, coaches, who helped guide me, even when things were tough. But when my granddaddy would get on me about different things, he would remind me, ‘I’m not your coach. You don’t have no leeway with me!’ (another chuckle).

“My granddad had a store on Church Street. I grew up on Church Street. I was ‘the church street kid.’ Paige Confections was my granddad’s store, right across the street from Simpkins. So, the Simpkins family is family to me.

“I come from our community. There were so many additional adult voices … Mr. Winston Deloatch … ‘Bones’ from the Goody Goody barbershop on Church Street.

“Norfolk raised me. I grew up in several neighborhoods. Even when we moved outside of Huntersville, we were still over at my grandparents’ house everyday.”

“But I was wayward in school. I would push boundaries. Actually, I can look back now and see I enjoyed going to the principal’s office. The chairs were more comfortable there (a broad smile) and I understood ‘the boss,’ when ‘the boss’ said something.

“The 10th grade was the highest grade of high school I had completed. I also did a little bit of time in a detention home for a crime where, if they had tried me as an adult in 1987, I don’t know when I would have come home. Because I was a juvenile, I was under the old law, where your records were sealed. Nobody knows this but those I share it with or those that were in the detention home with me.

***

“There is no way you can have the experiences in life I have had and be in a place like this without connectivity to God. I’m His child. God has shown me that everything I had gone through in life was made for that moment in my life, and this moment, in my life. That’s why it is so easy to remain transparent, because my yesterday was not the determinant of my tomorrow.

“You don’t judge people. You understand grace more than anything. I’ve met some of the best people in my entire life coming in and out of jails. Some just have an issue with making good decisions, while some are committed and dedicated to an aberrant lifestyle.

“Still, I’ve also met some of the most horrible people, that I could have even imagined ever existed, in corporate America. So, what I don’t do is allow for circumstances to determine who a person is. I judge not because I have walked many stations in this life.

“It’s almost as if I have lived beyond my years. I share my story to give others hope. I’ve been working on me since the late ‘80s. Instead of trying to become, I decided to be. I eventually finished school and earned a college degree.

“Later, I became a Food and Beverage Manager at the American Adventure Pavilion in Disney World’s Epcot Center. The name of the restaurant was the Liberty Inn. My undergrad degree from Norfolk State University was in Hotel Restaurant and Institutional Management. Disney came after me! They actually gave the school a $50,000 endowment and recruited me like I was a star. I had previously done an internship for the PGA Tour, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

“My major number one goal as a City Councilman is to impact the community in which I come from, which is all of Ward 4. I want to inspire us to get back to our rightful place, to teach my constituents that no one is coming for us. If we don’t do it, it won’t get done.”

Part Two will appear in our August 27, 2026 edition.