CELEBRATION OF LIFE
Mourners gather at visitation for cameraman slain on live television
ROANOKE, Va. — The scene inside a Virginia high school auditorium sounded more like a celebration of life Monday than a visitation after a death as the family of a cameraman who was slain on live TV greeted well over 1,000 mourners at a hometown reception.
Adam Ward’s father, Charles “Buddy” Ward, exchanged long hugs with just about anyone he came in contact with at the stage, where the slow-moving line passed his son’s open casket. Pop music softly played on the speakers.
Salem High School opened its doors to the community to honor Ward, an alumnus. The 27-year-old cameraman for Roanoke television station WDBJ-TV, along with reporter Alison Parker, was gunned down last week by a former co-worker.
The family of Ward, a 2007 graduate of the school, asked visitors to wear colors of his favorite teams, Virginia Tech and Salem High. He played football for the high school’s Spartans on two state championship teams. His funeral is set for today at First Baptist Church in Roanoke.
Members of Salem High’s football team, wearing the team jerseys, were among the first people to enter the school. WDBJ employees also attended, led by general manager and president Jeffrey Marks and news director Kelly Zuber.
Troutville Elementary School teachers Judy Deel and Rebecca Boone talked at length about their former student. Deel taught Ward in third grade and Boone had him in kindergarten.
“The way that he has been described as an adult is the way he was as a child,” Deel said. “He was vivacious. He was helpful. He was kind. He was giving. He was respectful. And so it was comforting to me to know that the young child I taught in third grade became the man that he was.”
Principal Scott Habeeb said Ward “loved life and he was truly kind to people.” Habeeb was the offensive line coach when Ward played middle school football, was one of his teachers as a high school freshman and was an assistant principal for Ward’s final three years of high school.
Ward’s father is a retired guidance counselor at the school, which Adam chose to attend even though he lived in another district.
Ward and Parker had been on an early morning assignment at Smith Mountain Lake when Vester Lee Flanagan walked up and shot them and Vicki Gardner, a Chamber of Commerce official, with a 9mm Glock pistol during a live interview. Ward and Parker died at the scene and Gardner is recovering in a hospital.
Thousands of viewers across the central Virginia community watched the shooting, and the footage quickly spread to millions on social media. Flanagan shot himself as police pursued his car. He died hours later.
He was vivacious. He was helpful. He was kind. He was giving. He was respectful.” Judy Deel, Adam Ward’s third-grade teacher