Uncle Bill
Every time the first chords of Mustang Sally begin wafting through James Weldon Johnson Park, you can almost see Uncle Bill.
Lanky and light on his feet, he dances with such joy that people half his age or younger join in. The elder with a New Orleans Saints baseball cap, thick black-framed glasses and a white mustache was a regular every time local musician Joe Watts played Live at Lunch Wednesdays in the park.
Sporting his signature tennis shoes, sweat pants and golf shirt, William Peyton Scott Senior was known to everyone as Uncle Bill. From mid-2020 to early 2023, before moving to Texas, he and his niece visited this historic public space in the heart of downtown. Uncle Bill needed his weekly dose of the soul song made famous by Wilson Pickett, other songs from that era, and an assortment of jazz favorites.
Because he’s from New Orleans and has many memories connected to soul music, it was impossible to sit still. Especially when his favorite tune rang out.
“Mustang Sally was his song,” his niece, Denise Scott, said with a smile. “He didn’t want to dance to anything else. I would say, ok Uncle Bill, we dance off your song, let’s dance off my song. He’d say, you dance off your song.”
Scott is a Jacksonville native with a long history of ties to the park that include being required to stand in the back during a 1964 speech by President Lyndon Johnson, more positive post-segregation experiences like debating who had the best hot dogs (it was the W.J. Grant Department Store lunch counter, known as Grant’s), and using the urban space when it was a transportation hub for buses.
Despite the difficult racial history of the city, Scott will always call Jacksonville home. So when she wanted to take care of her uncle, Scott brought him here from New Orleans. Regardless of the distance, Scott, her aunts, uncles and cousins have remained close through the years. And it has been some years this family has stayed connected. Scott’s bond with Uncle Bill formed while spending part of her high school years in New Orleans after her father’s passing in 1969. It was a very difficult time made a less difficult when surrounded by her mother’s side of the family, especially a man she still sees as a father figure.
“He’s still so full of wisdom,” Scott said. “Even with declining memory, Uncle Bill is still going to say something that comes out as a joke and then you go, ohhhhh.”
So back when she heard Uncle Bill needed help, even the reality that he was developing dementia didn’t change her mind. Scott was raised to respect and honor her elders, so this was an easy decision. Once together in Jacksonville, there was an ironing out period while Scott created a system to provide her uncle with all the care he needed. As their time together progressed, Scott learned about her uncle’s past experiences, including his World War II Navy service, which began in 1942 at age 15 because he believed so strongly in enlisting that he lied about his age. To this day, Scott said, he remembers all the details of his service, from the exact dates and locations of enlisting to the same for his discharge in 1945.
Shortly into the time she spent caring for him, Scott began taking Uncle Bill out a lot to make sure he stayed active. Part of their weekly visits included James Weldon Johnson Park, which worked so well over time that in July of 2021, her uncle’s 95th birthday party was held in the park, with Watts performing of course. There were 200 celebratory cupcakes, lots of dancing, and a good time for everyone who came by.
Scott credits local musician Watts for being “so cool” about always honoring her uncle’s love of the famous soul tune, both during weekly performances and on his birthday.
Although Uncle Bill moved in spring of 2023 to a Texas nursing facility near his oldest granddaughter’s home, Scott still smiles broadly as she thinks about his park experiences and his lively personality.
“He was just constantly going, having fun, and people really respected him,” Scott said of his enjoyment in dancing to the live music. “They would come up and say ‘Hi Pop’ and dance with him, even little older ladies.”
It was that liveliness and spunk that appealed so many park goers regardless of age, even those who work for the nonprofit organization contracted by the city to run the park.
“I absolutely loved Bill. He reminded me of my father who passed in 2019,” said Jihan White, Public Relations and Marketing Coordinator for Friends of James Weldon Johnson Park. “My dad wasn’t that old, but it’s just his spirit and his demeanor. When I met Uncle Bill, I just fell in love with him. He is such a sweet man.”
