Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 31, 1992 TAG: 9203310210
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MELANIE S. HATTER
DATELINE: PEARISBURG LENGTH: Medium
But most will remember him as a lifesaver, a friend and a father figure.
Hunter, 75, died last Wednesday morning from a heart attack while attending the weekly Men's Interdenominational Prayer Breakfast at First United Methodist Church.
"Everybody loved him," said Rodney Freeman of the Giles County Rescue Squad. "He was like a father figure to me."
Hunter had helped start the rescue squad. He taught the basic first aid to Freeman and just about all the younger members, Freeman said.
One thing Freeman learned from Hunter that sticks with him today is that "he always said first aid was simply common sense."
Hunter joined the squad in 1961 when he moved from the Eggleston area of the county to Pearisburg, said his wife, Eleanor.
"He stayed in it as long as he could do the work," she said. About five years ago he stopped actively participating with the squad.
"We had a good life, Howard and me," Eleanor Hunter said while sitting on a couch in their Pearisburg home.
They were married in 1942 after meeting at the Hoechst-Celanese plant where they both worked. They both retired in 1982, Howard after 42 years and Eleanor after 20.
Hunter was one of the first emergency medical technicians in Virginia, said Basil Davis, 67, who also was one of the first. Davis and Hunter attended New River Community College and trained at Roanoke Memorial Hospital, Davis said.
Eleanor Hunter assisted the rescue squad with the ladies' auxiliary and remembered many a time making sandwiches for the squad members working in the mountains or along the New River, she said.
Her husband was completely dedicated to the rescue squad. His love for people kept him going, she said. Even if he didn't feel well, "when duty called he went." Her husband especially enjoyed working on the safety station, a tent set up by a highway to provide coffee and doughnuts for holiday drivers. It was a way to get long-distance drivers to stop and rest, Eleanor Hunter said.
Hunter also was dedicated to Pearisburg Baptist Church, where he was deacon and member of several committees. It was at church that he gained the nickname "Candyman." He kept candies in his pocket and handed them out to the children, Eleanor Hunter said.
Freeman remembers him most going through town talking and waving at everyone. "No one was a stranger to him," Freeman said. "Everyone's gonna miss old Howard."
by CNB