Friends: Traffic accident victim a “loving, hard-working” father and husband

Published 12:05 am Wednesday, August 19, 2015

By Shavonne Walker

shavonne.walker@salisburypost.com

Friends say a Rowan man who died Monday after his work van struck the back of a tractor trailer was a “loving, hard-working” father and husband.

LaMark Stallings, 46, of China Grove, died at the scene of the two-vehicle crash on Jake Alexander Boulevard near the U.S. 29 overpass.

He struck the back corner of a Trexler Trucking tractor trailer that was stopped on Jake Alexander Boulevard. Stallings was a driver for Deals Glass Service.

The tractor trailer driver, Stephen Christopher Misenheimer, of Albemarle, was traveling toward Mooresville Road when he saw a moped rider heading in the opposite direction stopped near the entrance to the on-ramp to South Main Street.

Police said Misenheimer believed the moped rider was about to come into his lane of travel, so he stopped in the left lane to check on him and turned on his emergency lights.

It is not clear if Stallings did not see the tractor trailer or did not have time to stop. His van struck the tractor trailer, and he was pinned inside.

Police did not have the name of the moped rider, who they said suffered some road rash but was otherwise not injured.
Samantha Beaver, a co-worker of Stallings’ wife, Sherry, said she and the entire Centurion Medical Products company were saddened to hear of his death.
“My heart breaks for Sherry and her family,” Beaver said.
She said Stallings was a “loving, hard-working husband and father to Courtney and Stephen,” his children.
Beaver said Stallings just became a grandfather in May. She called his death a “sad situation.”
Jamie Watson’s two children are Stallings’ nieces through marriage, and she called him a “kind man.”
“He would do anything for anyone. He loved his family. He was a hard worker so his family would have what they needed,” Watson said.
Contact reporter Shavonne Walker at 704-797-4253.