Remembering Firefighter William Harold "Hal" Clark

William "Hal" Harold Clark

(March 13, 1956 - September 24, 2010)

Firefighter William "Hal" Clark, 54, of Atlantic, VA. passed away in the line of duty Friday, September 24th, 2010.

Hal was born in Salisbury, Maryland on March 13, 1956, the son of the late Bill and Virginia (Shields) Clark.

He worked for the Town of Chincoteague in the public works and water department.

He was the president and lifetime member of the Atlantic Volunteer Fire & Rescue Company and past member of Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company as an engineer.

He was very dedicated to volunteering at the Chincoteague Carnival. He was also a member of the Sons of American Legion Post # 159 and the American Legion Riders.

He is survived by a daughter Valerie Merritt and her husband Keith of Chincoteague, Va; a grandaughter Jenna Merritt of Chincoteague, VA; a fiance' Mary Snead of Atlantic, VA and her son Michael; a brother Skibo Clark and his wife Cristy of Chincoteague; a sister Shelia Gallagher of Chincoteague, VA; a step mother Jean Clark of Chincoteague, VA; three nieces Sandy Daisey, Melissa Clark, and Taylor Clark; three nephews Buster Dennis, Matt Clark, and Mason Karafa; several aunts, uncles, and cousins.

He was predeceased by a son Todd Clark.

Friends are invited to call Thursday 7-9 PM. at Union Baptist Church on Church Street in Chincoteague, VA.

Funeral Service with full Firefighter Honors will be held at Union Baptist Church, Chincoteague Island, VA, at 2 PM on Friday, October 1st, with Rev. Maurice Enright and Rev. Bob Reese officiating.

All firefighters and motorcycle riders are welcome and encouraged to participate.

Interment will be held at John W. Taylor Memorial Cemetery Temperenceville, VA.

The family would like to invite everyone to join them for a reception after the service at the Chincoteague Center on 6155 Community Drive on Chincoteague, VA. Flowers accepted or donations may be made to Fire Company of Your Choice.

Services entrusted to Salyer Funeral Home, Inc., where condolences may be made online at www.salyerfh.com<>

Woman's Unclaimed Body Left In Hearse For Nine Days

RALEIGH A body's journey in the back of a hearse is grim but usually brief.

That was not the case, though, for Linda Walton.

On Friday, nine days after a mortuary service picked up Walton's corpse from an apartment in Carrboro, police were called to investigate a foul odor in downtown Graham, a small Alamance County town about 55 miles west of Raleigh.

Investigators traced the smell to a hearse owned by David B. Lawson Mortuary, the undertaker that picked up Walton's body Aug. 11. Walton, 37, who investigators think died about a week before she was discovered, was still in the back of the undertaker's vehicle.

The gruesome find set off an investigation by police and the Alamance County district attorney's office. Their findings have sparked an inquiry by the N.C. Board of Funeral Service, which is responsible for the administration and regulation of the profession of funeral service in North Carolina.

Police do not suspect foul play in Walton's death. But investigators had not determined whether Lawson, the owner of the mortuary service that had her body, had run afoul of the law.

Lawson, a licensed funeral director and embalmer in North Carolina for 34 years, did notrespond to phone calls seeking comment.

Capt. Joel Booker of the Carrboro police department said Lawson's service was called after investigators couldn't find Walton's next of kin. Police believed that she had died of natural causes so there would be no autopsy ordered by the state medical examiner.

Lawson Mortuary, Booker said, was on a list of mortuaries that would pick up bodies. Carrboro investigators said when Lawson's showed up at the apartment in western Carrboro, investigators told the driver that they were having difficulty finding Walton's family.

"What the investigators told me is Lawson's said, 'Not a problem. We'll put her in deep-freeze,'" Booker said. "So off they go, and that's the last we know of it until we heard from Graham police last week."

It was unclear whether Lawson's had a refrigerated unit for storing bodies.

www.charlotteobserver.com