By Shavonne Potts and Mark Wineka
Salisbury Post
GOLD HILL ó Things were going well for Tammy Efird.
She had purchased a mobile home more than two years ago, establishing a nice place for her two young children and her mother, Shelia.
She had recently been promoted to manager at the Bojangles in Richfield. Efird already had assumed those duties, but her first official day as manager was supposed to be Monday.
The kids had a great Christmas ó a motorized scooter for her 6-year-old daughter, Haylee, and a small four-wheeler for her son, Gauge, who will be 4 in February.
Before 6 a.m. Friday, Tammy Efird said goodbye to her mother and headed out the door for her shift at Bojangles. It was the last time Shelia spoke with her daughter.
Tamara “Tammy” Michele Efird, 27, of 555 Efird Road, died Friday morning when her minivan slammed into the back of a tractor-trailer hauling gravel.
The accident occurred in the 14000 block of U.S. 52 just east of Gold Hill.
Efird was heading south on U.S. 52 in her 1996 Mercury Villager, and N.C. Highway Patrol Trooper D.T. Sloop said it appeared as though she failed to reduce speed before hitting the stopped truck, which was waiting to make a left turn.
It is not known if she was distracted or why she wasn’t able to stop.
“We won’t know,” Sloop said. “Only she would know.”
“If she did brake, she braked late,” Sloop said. “It appears she didn’t hit the brakes.”
Sloop said Efird was not wearing a seat belt. Her airbag deployed.
Her children’s safety seats were in the bluish-green minivan, but Efird’s children were back at home.
The truck was driven by Jerry Allen Stewart, who was hauling for Sheldon Murdock, based in Statesville.
“He was waiting for traffic to clear,” Sloop said.
The speed limit on that stretch of road is 55 mph.
It was a hard day at work for Efird’s co-workers. By the end of the day, most knew of Tammy Efird’s death.
Jessica Stroud, a shift manager who worked with Efird for about two years, recalled her friend as a mother figure.
“She was kind of like our mother,” Stroud said. “She was a very caring person.”
Overcome with emotion, Stroud had a hard time talking about her friend and co-worker.
“It’s really hard, but we’re all going to stick together,” she said of her fellow employees.
Manager Brian Hutchison came from Concord to fill in, and he attested to the fortitude of the staff.
“They’re pulling on each other for strength,” he said. “They are a close-knit group.”
Hutchison remembered Efird as “always bubbly and cheerful.”
Efird was born in Rowan County and was a 1999 graduate of East Rowan High. She was a member of St. James Lutheran Church of Rockwell.
Shelia Efird said her daughter was a hard worker and a quick study, who started with the Bojangles restaurant in Salisbury about four years ago before moving to the Richfield Bojangles when it opened.
In high school, Tammy Efird had quit in the ninth grade, but her mother persuaded her to return. It required her going to both summer school and night school to make up for time lost, but Tammy ended up graduating with her original class, Shelia Efird said.
Before her promotion, Tammy often had to leave her Gold Hill home between 4 and 4:30 a.m. so she could open the restaurant. Friday, she left a little later because her duties had changed in the morning.
Her children were Tammy’s life, according to her mother.
Young Gauge asked Friday whether his mother was coming back from heaven.
“He doesn’t understand,” Shelia Efird said, “but the 6-year-old kind of comprehends it a little bit.”
Shelia Efird said she will try to raise the children.
Shelia Efird described her daughter as tender-hearted and a loving mother and sister. Her sister was Diedre Maines.
“She’s going to be greatly missed,” Shelia Efird said. “She always did for others. We’re all of us taking it hard.”
The funeral service will be on Monday at 2 p.m. at St. James Lutheran Church in Rockwell where the Rev. Craig Sigmon, pastor, will officiate. Burial will follow at Brookhill Memorial Gardens, Rockwell.
The visitation will be on Sunday at the Powles Funeral Home from 4 to 6 p.m.
Contact Shavonne Potts at 704-797-4253 or spotts@salisburypost.com.