Winston-Salem Journal -- Adam Marion, a Surry County native, died in Iraq this week while serving with the Army. Military officers came to his family's Mount Airy home late Monday night to tell his parents, Surry County Clerk of Superior Court Pam Marion and Donnie Marion, a magistrate.

Adam Marion was 26. Details about his death and Army career were not yet available. He had been in the Army close to a year, a family friend said.

"His family is a very loving, very giving family, and they taught him. They instilled in him the importance of taking care of your community and your country," said Kathy Robertson, a friend. "I think that's part of the reason he joined the military."

Yesterday, the American flag at the Surry County Courthouse was lowered to half mast as word spread throughout the community of Marion's death. Clerks who work at the courthouse with his mother Pam Marion were teary-eyed as people came to offer condolences.

Adam Marion was her only son. In addition to his parents, he is survived by an older sister.

A woman who answered the phone at the Marion's home today said that the family was not ready to give a statement. They are still waiting to learn all the details, said the woman, who did not give her name.

The U.S. Department of Defense had not confirmed Marion's death by late this afternoon. The department of defense waits 24 hours before releasing details of a war casualty to the public, a spokeswoman said.

Adam Marion graduated in 2000 from Surry Central High School, where he was on the golf team. He loved to hunt deer.

He was very family oriented, said Robertson, who is the finance officer at Surry Central and whose husband is a cousin.

Marion loved being around his family, she said.

A few weeks ago, he was back in Surry County on leave.

"He loved to have fun," Robertson said. "Just being around him would make you laugh, and he loved to cut up and pick. He was just fun to be around."

The family and community are overwhelmed with grief, friends said yesterday.

"He was such a good fine young man," Robertson said. "He was a good Christian boy. And he loved life to the fullest. They're devastated. It's a loss for our community.

==Another news story==

MOUNT AIRY, N.C. -- The Surry County town of Mount Airy is mourning the loss of a soldier. Family and friends of 26-year-old Pfc. Adam Marion learned Monday that he had been killed in Iraq.

"Shocking is just the word that keeps coming to mind," said one teacher who remembers Marion.

A report from Fort Bragg said the Army National Guardsman was killed in Baghdad by “indirect fire.”

Family members at his parent’s home were too upset to talk with News 14 Carolina on Wednesday. But a spokesman close to the family said Marion had just been home on leave two weeks ago.

"We thought we would see him go through the military and find his position working in education," said another staff member at his former school.

A 2000 graduate of Surry Central High School, Marion is remembered by school staff as someone who loved kids and a round of golf. Teacher Sharlene Mills recalls his slight disdain for math from his old seat in her classroom.

"Right up front with those long legs stretched out in my way all the time," Mills fondly added.

Teachers describe Marion as an average student. But far from average was his community service. All through high school he volunteered with abused and neglected children.

"If they had an outing at the pool, or if they had outings at the picnic shelter or wherever they had outings he would go with them and help volunteer," said a former fellow volunteer.

Janie O’Neal of the Childrens Center of Surry County says Marion took it a step further, often mentoring misguided kids.

"He was a friend to them but he was also somebody that they looked up to, kinda like a big brother," O’Neal added.

And as former counselor Donna Dobbins adds, he was a big brother whose ultimate sacrifice should serve as an example to other young people.

"Make good choices because we may not have that opportunity to go back and experience some of those same things again,” Dobbins advised.

Marion’s mother, Pam Marion, is the Surry County Clerk of Superior Court. His father, Donnie Marion, is a magistrate in Surry County.

==Another news story==

SURRY COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) -- Flags all around Surry County flew at half staff today to honor the loss of a National Guardsman killed in Iraq.

Adam Marion, who graduated from Surry Central High School in 2000, was killed in Baghdad serving the Army. He was 26.

His family learned of the death Monday night.

Adam's mother, Pam Marion, is the Surry County Clerk of Superior Court and his father, Donnie Marion, is the county magistrate.

Flags at the high school, the courthouse and the old courthouse square were lowered to half staff in memory of Adam.

"I think people need to understand Adam died too young," said Mark Snow, one of Adam's high school teachers and a family friend. "He died for a good cause. Remember him not for the way he died, but for the way he lived."

Algebra teacher Sharlene Mills remembered him as someone who brought life to her classroom: "This is where Adam used to sit, right in the front, right here near me. I always had a good view of that smile on his face."