BANGOR, Maine — Friends, family and members of the military planned to line Center Street near Brookings Smith Funeral Home late Friday night to welcome home the body of Senior Airman Earl Grover Jr., a 2011 Brewer High School graduate.
Grover, who served with the 4th Equipment Maintenance Squadron in Greenville, North Carolina, died from injuries suffered Saturday, Oct. 29, during an off-road motorcycle accident at a motocross park in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, according to a statement from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base.
“He was doing what he loved most, riding his dirt bike with a few of his close friends,” his obituary states.
Grover was taken to Vidant Medical Center in Greenville after the accident and that is where he later died.
“Team Seymour has heavy hearts as we mourn the loss of one of our own airmen,” Col. Christopher Sage, 4th Fighter Wing commander, said in the statement. “During this difficult time we will continue to support one another and provide help to those affected.”
The cause of the accident is currently under investigation, the release states.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday, the 4th Fighter Wing Commander posted that Grover was “a valued member of our 4th Equipment Maintenance Squadron. He will be greatly missed. It will not be easy, but I know we can find strength and hope while overcoming this tragedy.”
Twenty members of the Delta Airline Honor Guard placed Grover’s body on a plane in Atlanta, said member Brian McConnell. He said a motorcycle group in Maine was expected to escort Grover’s body from Boston to Bangor, if the weather doesn’t prevent it.
Grover’s body was scheduled to land in Boston at around 4:30 p.m. and rush hour traffic was expected to add at least an hour to the trip north to Bangor.
“Hopefully, they’ll be home between 10 and 10:30 [p.m.],” said friend Brittany Mylen.
His friends and family in the Winterport-Orrington-Brewer area asked people to welcome Grover home by lining the roadway to Brookings Smith, located at 133 Center St.
“We want people to line the entire street,” family friend Leanne Archer of Orrington said Friday morning.
A viewing for family and friends is 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday and a funeral for all who knew him is 2 p.m. Sunday at the funeral home. A celebration of his life will follow the funeral at the reception hall next door.
A GoFundMe page to help pay for funeral expenses was created by his sister, Brandi Leigh of Brewer.
“Never in a million years did I think you would leave this earth so early,” she wrote. “I want to give you the best funeral anyone could ever have. I want you to know how loved you are, and how missed you’ll be.”