By Nathan Hardin
nhardin@salisburypost.com
FAITH — Relatives said a Rainey Road man who died in a car crash Wednesday night was a “loving, caring father.”
Tony King, 47, died in a wreck on Mount Hope Church Road when his Chevrolet Lumina ran off the road and slammed into a culvert about 9:45 p.m.
Family members gathered at his home Thursday to help with funeral arrangements and mourn the Faith man’s death.
“He would do anything for anybody that he could,” his ex-wife, April King, said. “He was a good father.”
King was born and raised in Rowan County, relatives said.
A graduate of East Rowan High School, King worked at Fieldcrest Cannon Plant 6 from 1983 until it closed.
He also earned a mechanic’s degree at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College.
“He loved to hunt and fish. He loved to ride motorcycles,” April King said. “He was an outdoorsman.”
She said King had left his daughter’s house Wednesday night shortly before the crash.
“They think he nodded off, fell asleep, and hit a culvert,” April King said.
The wreck happened near Pop Stirewalt and Artz roads.
Bostian Heights Assistant Fire Chief Steve Osborne said crews found the Lumina upside down in a front yard on Mount Hope Church Road.
“We started an extrication process,” Osborne said. But when they checked King’s vital signs, he had already passed away.
It took about two hours for crews to finish clearing the scene, he said.
King’s daughter, Jennifer, could say little Thursday except that she and her son, Eli Hartsell, will miss him.
“He was a loving, caring father and person,” Jennifer King said.
A cousin of King’s, Tina Locklear, said he made an impression on her growing up.
“He was like a brother to me,” she said. “I always looked up to him.”
Contact reporter Nathan Hardin at 704-797-4246.