GEORGETOWN, SC (WBTW) – The Georgetown area is mourning the deaths of the chair of the board of trustees for Tidelands Health and his wife, who were killed in a car accident in North Carolina on Wednesday afternoon. 

H. McRoy Skipper Jr. and his wife Jo died in the crash that, according to our sister station WNCN, happened on Interstate 40 east in Johnston County, North Carolina. A North Carolina man was also killed in the crash.

Tidelands Health employees mourned the Skippers’ deaths Thursday.

“This is a day of profound loss for our entire region,” said Amy Stevens, vice president of marketing and communications at Tidelands Health. “Mr. And Mrs. Skipper were the best of us, just kind people, people who gave of themselves.”

McRoy Skipper was a managing partner for the accounting firm WebsterRogers in Georgetown and Pawleys Island.

He also led several initiatives to help grow the Tidelands Health hospital system.

“He has been so supportive of continuing to invest in health care in Georgetown, but also investing resources to serve Murrells Inlet, to serve (Surfside Beach), and now, to serve Myrtle Beach.”

Stevens says she remembers Skipper Jr. during a celebration of the hospital system changing its name to Tidelands Health.

“We have an employee who’s very shy,” said Stevens. “So Mr. Skipper was on the stage and said we have a special guest here. He brought her out of the audience and just wrapped her up in his arms. It just tickled her to death.”

Jo Skipper and her husband were very active at Lakewood Baptist Church near Georgetown.

Those mourning the couple’s death say they’ll remember the Skippers’ generosity.

“Another testament to Mr. and Mrs. Skipper would be the children that they’ve raised and the grandchildren that they have wrapped up in love,” Stevens said.

The North Carolina Highway Patrol says 61-year-old William Oneal of Garner, North Carolina, failed to stop for a traffic backup in his flatbed truck and plowed into several vehicles.

Garner’s charged with three counts of misdemeanor death by motor vehicle.