A Clinton funeral director is appealing disciplinary action handed down by the North Carolina Board of Funeral Service after the state regulatory agency found multiple violations involving the handling of cremated remains, a forged signature on a cremation authorization and a charge for embalming services that were neither requested nor performed.
The findings are detailed in an eight-page decision issued by the Board of Funeral Service involving Harvesting Hope Inc., doing business as Hope Valley Hawkins Funeral Service & Cremation, and Paul Thomas Ayers Hawkins. The document, formally titled Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Final Agency Decision, is a public record available through the North Carolina Board of Funeral Service’s website, ncbfs.org.
In simpler terms, the document lays out what the board determined happened, which state funeral-service rules were violated and what disciplinary action would be taken as a result.
The board suspended Hawkins’ funeral director license until he completes a board-sponsored continuing education course on cremation laws. Hawkins served as the licensed manager and an officer of Hope Valley Hawkins Funeral Service & Cremation in Clinton.
Once Hawkins completes the course, his suspension is to be lifted and his license placed on probation for two years. During that period, he cannot serve as the licensed manager of a funeral home in North Carolina.
Hawkins was also assessed a $3,700 civil penalty.
The funeral home’s permit received what the board calls a two-year “stayed suspension.” In practical terms, the funeral home can continue operating, but the suspension could take effect if the board receives evidence that the establishment violates another state funeral-service law or rule during that two-year period.
The disciplinary action stems from a complaint filed with the board in September 2025 by Jenny Lockamy Walker concerning funeral and cremation services provided to several members of her family.
According to the board’s findings, Walker’s brother-in-law, Christopher Patrick Wheeler, died Sept. 19, 2021. His family contracted with Hope Valley Hawkins Funeral Service for his cremation, and his cremated remains were returned to the family in an urn they had provided.
Wheeler’s wife — and Walker’s sister — Adrienne “Sam” Lockamy-Wheeler died May 26, 2023. Her family again used Hope Valley for cremation services.
On or about June 8, 2023, Walker brought Wheeler’s urn back to the funeral home so her sister’s cremated remains could be placed in the same urn as her husband’s, the documents noted.
The board found that two representatives of the funeral home took the urn into another room, outside Walker’s view, before returning and telling her that the cremated remains of both Wheeler and Lockamy-Wheeler had been placed inside.
Walker took the urn home and returned it to the family’s fireplace mantel.
It would be more than two years before she discovered otherwise.
Walker’s mother, Clara Beatty Lockamy, died May 12, 2024, and her remains were also cremated through Hope Valley and returned to Walker in a separate urn. Later that year, the family dog previously owned by Wheeler and Lockamy-Wheeler died and was cremated as well.
In March 2025, Walker began trying to arrange for the cremated remains of Wheeler, Lockamy-Wheeler, Lockamy and the family dog to be buried in Lockamy’s cemetery plot.
According to the board, Hope Valley did not enter into an agreement with Walker to provide the requested burial between March and August 2025. Walker eventually hired another funeral home to conduct the burial.
On Aug. 17, 2025 — the night before the scheduled burial — Walker opened the urn she believed contained the remains of both her sister and brother-in-law so she could add the cremated remains of the family dog.
Her sister’s remains were not inside, the board found.
Walker immediately contacted Hawkins and demanded that her sister’s remains be returned.
According to the board’s decision, Hawkins initially told Walker he could not locate either Lockamy-Wheeler’s cremated remains or her cremation file. The following day, Aug. 18, Hawkins informed Walker that both had been found.
Walker went to Hope Valley that day to retrieve her sister’s remains.
The board found that while Hawkins was placing Lockamy-Wheeler’s cremated remains into the urn, he poked a hole in the bag containing Wheeler’s remains. According to the decision, Hawkins then moved the loose cremated remains toward the end of the table and brushed them into the urn.
The case also raised a separate issue involving the cremation of Walker’s mother.
On or about Sept. 3, 2025, Walker returned to Hope Valley and obtained a copy of her mother’s cremation file. While reviewing the paperwork, Walker discovered her name had been placed on the form authorizing her mother’s cremation.
Walker testified during the board’s March 11, 2026, hearing that she had been present when her mother’s funeral arrangements were made but was never given a cremation authorization form to sign. She also testified that she had never given anyone permission to sign her name.
Hawkins gave the board a different account.
He testified that Walker was not physically present when the arrangements were made and had verbally given her daughter permission to sign Walker’s name on the cremation authorization.
After hearing both accounts, the board determined Walker’s testimony was credible and Hawkins’ was not, documents show.
The board ultimately concluded that the cremation authorization had been signed by someone who knew the signature of the person legally authorizing the cremation was forged.
The board also found a billing problem involving Walker’s mother’s funeral.
The family’s itemized funeral statement included a $695 charge for embalming. According to the board, the family had not requested embalming and the service was never performed.
Hope Valley ultimately gave the family a discount greater than $695. However, the board found that putting the embalming charge on the original bill inflated the stated cost before the discount was applied.
The board classified that as misrepresentation — essentially, presenting the family with a bill containing a charge for a service it had neither requested nor received.
The latest findings are particularly significant because Hawkins and the funeral home were already under disciplinary restrictions from an earlier case.
On Dec. 6, 2023, the Board of Funeral Service entered a consent order placing Hawkins and the funeral home under a two-year stayed suspension.
A consent order generally resolves a disciplinary matter under agreed-upon conditions. In this case, the 2023 suspension was held back as long as Hawkins and the funeral home followed the laws and regulations governing funeral service.
The board determined the violations in the latest case broke the conditions of that 2023 agreement.
In its latest decision, the board concluded Hawkins and the funeral home committed fraud or misrepresentation in operating the business and failed to treat human remains with the respect required under state law.
The board also found violations for putting services on a funeral statement that were not requested or provided and for failing to provide paid-for goods or services within a reasonable amount of time or refund the money.
Additionally, the board found a violation involving the cremation authorization bearing Walker’s forged signature.
Taken together, the violations led the board to determine that Hawkins was “not currently fit to practice” as a funeral director.
The latest disciplinary proceedings culminated in a hearing March 11, 2026, with the board issuing its written decision March 23.
Under that order, Hawkins’ funeral director license was suspended until he completes a board-sponsored course covering cremation laws.
The decision does not state when or whether Hawkins has completed the required course. Once he completes it, his suspension is to end and a two-year probationary period is to begin.
During that probation, Hawkins cannot serve as the licensed manager of a North Carolina funeral home and must comply with all state laws and rules governing funeral service.
The board also ordered Hawkins to pay the $3,700 civil penalty within 12 months of the decision taking effect.
Hope Valley’s funeral establishment permit was separately placed under a new two-year stayed suspension. That means the funeral home’s suspension remains on hold but could be activated if the board receives evidence of another violation during that period.
Hawkins and the funeral home were also ordered to reimburse the board for costs associated with holding the disciplinary hearing.
The March decision allowed Hawkins and Hope Valley to ask a Superior Court judge to review the board’s action.
Unlike a new trial, that review does not involve presenting new evidence. Instead, a judge reviews the board’s decision to determine whether legal errors were made.
Hawkins is challenging the decision, with an appeal scheduled for Sept. 9.
Hawkins has agreed to speak with The Sampson Independent following that proceeding, but not until. The Independent will publish a follow-up report on the outcome of the appeal and provide Hawkins an opportunity to respond to the board’s findings and give his account of the circumstances surrounding the disciplinary action.