Morganton’s Joshua Ward, drummer and vocalist for heavy metal band Voraath, and who was featured in The Paper in October for helping hurricane survivors in the mountains, was killed in a tragic car crash in South Carolina on New Year's Eve.
Ward, 37, along with three other passengers in his car, were killed when their vehicle was struck by a sedan driven by an drunk driver near Greenville.
The other driver, Nicholas Shane Meeks, was taken into custody and charged with four counts of felony DUI involving death and driving with a suspended license.
Voraath had been scheduled to embark on a tour when Hurricane Helene hit in late September. Instead of touring, Ward and some of his bandmates loaded their trucks and trailers and headed into the mountains.
For 10 days, they carried food and medical supplies to people stranded in isolated pockets of devastation, and conducted wellness checks for folks worried about family members.
Ward leaves behind a young son, Kai. A family friend has set up a gofundme page to help with funeral expenses. As of Thursday afternoon, the effort had raised more than $16,000 of a $20,000 goal.
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This is so terribly sad and a tragedy for Josh's family and bandmates and all the people they helped who were affected by Hurricane Helene.
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Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.