Junior Singleton

Avery County’s Junior Singleton Earns Hero Status After Saving Neighbors During Hurricane Helene STORY BY TIM GARDNER

Junior Singleton, with his wife, Donna.

Photo submitted.

I

Terry and Mary Young stand beside their house that was destroyed during Hurricane Helene. Photo submitted.

n the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, stories of masculine and feminine heroes have emerged and deserve to be publicized.

These men and women have demonstrated strength and courage in the face of such horrid adversity. And some have been tagged with the title of “hero,” which Webster defines as a person noted for courageous acts.

75-year-old Hansel Singleton, Jr. of the Frank Community of Avery County has unquestionably earned the label of hero for his acts that saved four of his neighbors on September 27 as Hurricane Helene ripped through the region.

He got John and Lucille Ledford out of their house and to safety right before it completely flooded and a bridge near it became impassable. He then waded in chest-deep water to rescue Terry and Mary Young from their trailer as it was about to be swept away. Unfortunately, the trailer was destroyed.

John and Lucille Ledford.

Photo submitted.

Junior (the name which he prefers to be called) risked his own life to save the Ledfords and the Youngs from the hurricane’s raging floodwaters at the point in the North Toe River where Squirrel Creek and Licklog roads meet. Junior, the Ledfords, and the Youngs live on the banks of the river. Junior lives on the same side of the road as the Youngs did and across from the Ledfords.

As he watched in horror at what was happening, Junior realized it was then or never. He said: “I was quickly thinking, ‘How do I save them?’ I’m happy I took quick action as there was no time to wait.”

Junior added that he made a “calculated risk,” and without hesitation, he jumped into fast-moving, Helene-swollen waters to save the Youngs and the Ledfords because he “couldn’t watch them possibly die knowing that he might help keep them alive.”

Truly, he braved the extremely strong current of the raging river waters to reach the Ledfords and the Youngs.

Thankfully, he was able to get them out safely. Also, after During the events of Hurricane Helene, countless rescuing them, he graciously offered his home for them to stay. The Ledfords stayed there for several days until they stories have emerged about those who helped others in repaired their home and moved back into it. The Youngs need, and the story of Junior Singleton is one of them that stayed with Junior’s brother-in-law, Jim Pittman, who needs to be shared. Junior is a man who selflessly put lives just a short distance from all of them, before moving to Morganton, North Carolina to stay with their daughter his life in danger to save the lives of others. He is the very in her home. They then relocated to a shelter in Johnson definition of a good man and a good neighbor, and my City, Tennessee, where they are currently living, until they can get another trailer or a house on their property. family is forever grateful to him for what he did.

"I realized how bad the flooding truly was after I got - CASEY ADAM YOUNG to John and Lucille’s home and the flooding had made 28

HIGH COUNTRY MAGAZINE

December 2024

things a lot worse when I started to Terry’s and Mary’s trailer and it hit me quickly and like a ton of rocks in making me realize that I might not live to get them out of their trailer and we all three might not make it. But I didn't think of another option except to wade through that water as fast as I could and do all I could to rescue them as I did John and Lucille," Junior declared.

Casey Adam Young of Kings Mountain, North Carolina, whose maternal grandparents are John and Lucille Ledford, said: “During the events of Hurricane Helene, countless stories have emerged about those who helped others in need, and the story of Junior Singleton is one of them that needs to be shared. Junior is a man who selflessly put his life in danger to save the lives of others. He is the very definition of a good man and a good neighbor, and my family is forever grateful to him for what he did.”

Another of Junior's Frank Community neighbors David Pittman echoed Casey Adam Young’s sentiments: "Junior is an elder at Frank Presbyterian who practices what is preached and takes love thy neighbor as thy self for its true meaning.

He is a true hero for what he did to save his neighbors during Hurricane Helene."

Junior is an elder at Frank Presbyterian who practices what is preached and takes love thy neighbor as thy self for its true meaning.

He is a true hero for what he did to save his neighbors during Hurricane Helene.

- DAVID PITTMAN All of the North Carolina High Country has been devastated

by Hurricane Helene, and the Frank Community is among its hardest hit areas. Residents of this close-knit community have shown remarkable resilience and come together when it mattered most during and in the recovery efforts after the hurricane. The majority of its citizens are lifelong residents with deep generational roots in the mountains of North Carolina. Most do not have flood insurance, as Hurricane Helene was an unprecedented disaster, and many couldn’t afford such insurance anyway.

It will take months, maybe even years, to bring this community back. Those who wish to help financially with its recovery efforts can donate through a GoFundMe account with proceeds going directly to the residents of Frank.

The account was created by descendants of two of the first families—William Marion and Sophia Buchanan and Evan and Mary Polly Hughes—who settled there in the 1800s—and operated by Rebekah Anthony Young, wife of Casey.

Those donations can be made in honor of Junior Singleton through this online link: https://www.facebook.com/ share/v/xEYjzUG3KUgBHB2i/?mibextid=WC7FNe. As recovery progresses, the communities continue to rely on faith, local volunteers, and the external support of many to rebuild and restore normalcy, while continuing to admire the efforts of the true heroes of the hurricane—people like Junior Singleton. t

Video footage circulated of the moment Junior Singleton waded in chest-deep water to rescue Terry and Mary Young from their trailer as it was about to be swept away.

The Singleton family (from left to right): Junior, his wife, Donna, their daughter, Lorie, and grandsons Cainan, Cole, and Carson. Photo submitted.

December 2024

HIGH COUNTRY MAGAZINE

29