Former Sampson County Board of Education chairman and member G.H. Wilson is still recovering this week from a two-vehicle accident that occurred in the northern end of Sampson just before Christmas.
Wilson suffered serious injury in the crash and has been hospitalized since.
According to N.C. Highway Patrol reports, Wilson was traveling west on U.S. Highway 13 on Dec. 24 when he failed to come to a stop at the stop light along the road. Simultaneously, a 1997 transport truck (18-wheeler) operated by Robert McCants, was traveling north on U.S. Highway 421. Wilson’s failure to stop resulted in a collision between the two vehicles. Both vehicles later came to rest on the shoulder of the road.
While McCants was left unharmed by the crash, Wilson sustained serious injuries.
He was later charged with failure to stop at a stop light and was transported to Wake Med in Raleigh. As of press time, there were no updates on his condition.
“That’s pretty much the down and dirty of everything,” said Highway Patrol Sgt. Kevin Pearson. “Unless it’s a situation where the person is in extremely critical condition, we don’t really follow up on their condition.”
Wilson has previously served on both the Sampson County Board of Education and the Sampson County Board of Elections. He held a position on the school board for over 20 years before resigning from the position in 2014 due to health, family and personal issues. His vacant seat was later filled the following year by current board member Kim Schmidlin, who finished out the remainder of his term until she was formally elected into the board in 2018.
Wilson later served on the Sampson County Board of Elections from 2019 until he resigned from the position towards the end of the 2021 filing period, announcing that he would be seeking a return to the school board. However, in the following year’s election, he did not garner the votes to retake a seat on the board. Those elected to the board in that race were all incumbents re-elected to their positions, including Schmidlin, Sonya Powell, Robert Burley and current board chair Darryl Warren.