65-year-old Lane Wilkes of Welcome died of flu complications Tuesday.
WELCOME, N.C. — Flu cases are surging across the country, with more than 170 deaths reported in North Carolina this season.
One of those lost is Lane Wilkes, a 65-year-old man from Davidson County who died at Lexington Hospital this week.
His family is in shock. They never thought something as common as the flu could take him away. Wilkes died Tuesday night after his illness turned into pneumonia.
“My oldest son died suddenly from the flu that turned into pneumonia, and he was too weak to fight it off… he went to the hospital too late,” said his mother, Gay Nell.
By the time he arrived at the hospital, Wilkes had high fevers of 105 to 106 degrees. His condition worsened as he developed pneumonia and septic shock. His family took him off of life support.
Nell is heartbroken. She said Lane was a good son and a good man, a man loved by so many in the tight-knit Welcome community, “I’m not complaining, Lord… you’ve been so good to me… but it’s hard,” she said.
This hits her even harder because in the last six years, she’s lost all three of her sons and a daughter-in-law she was very close with.
“Now Lane is gone. All of my children…. I’m 84 years old and I’ve outlived all my children,” said Nell.
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Just hours after news of his death spread, the community rallied around his family. His niece, Krista Whitman, was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and memories shared online.
“I’m reading posts from people that I never even knew, knew my uncle. We’re in a small community, everybody knows everybody… and there’s been people posting stuff about him that I never knew that he did just because he didn’t want the attention for himself,” she said.
Wilkes was an avid horse rider and known as “the last, true cowboy.” Part of his ashes will be scattered where his horse and dog are buried, a special goodbye to a man who loved the cowboy lifestyle.
Whitman describes him as rough around the edges with a heart of gold. She said her 2-year-old son Eli idolized Wilkes, saying their bond was something special.
“He never got to be a Papaw of his own but he had so many adopted youngins’ that loved him and loved to see him coming,” Whitman said.
Nell said she is grateful for the community’s support. “People have been so good to us and so loving, I won’t be able to do enough the rest of my life for all these people being so good to me— to us,” she said.
After his funeral this weekend, Wilkes’ ashes will take their place beside his two younger brothers, a final farewell to a man remembered as the last, true cowboy of Welcome.
