When a motorcyclist was pinned under the wreckage of a crash Saturday night , Zachary Spooner of Windsor didn’t hesitate, friends said. He ran toward the scene to help the man, who later died. But by Wednesday afternoon, Spooner, a 27-year-old husband and father of a 1-year-old, was also gone, the victim of an explosion where he worked — Haynes Mulch in Weare.
Neighbors and his church pastor said the community is crushed by grief. “This is one of the world’s nicest guys. The world has a huge hole in it today, no question,” said Laurie Hunt, one of Spooner’s neighbors.
“He’s a young father, but also one of the most generous, giving and wise people I’ve met.” Spooner suffered fatal injuries from blunt-force trauma in an explosion around 2 p.m.
inside Haynes Mulch. The state Medical Examiner’s Office has not released the official cause of death. Police and the state Fire Marshal’s Office are investigating the cause of the explosion.
Pastor Bill Stockhaus at Weare Christian Church said he has known Spooner for 22 years. Spooner was married in his church seven years ago “I loved him very much. He and my youngest son were very close growing up,” Stockhaus said Thursday afternoon.
“The church is reeling. The church is really devastated.” Stockhaus said Spooner had “a servant’s heart” and the community could always place its trust in him to help others.
“He was a hard-working kid. He always made time beyond his regular work to help others,” Stockhaus said. Hunt said in the tiny town of Windsor — population less than 300 — Spooner was a doting father of her “grand-neighbor,” and an excellent mechanic, who just this weekend helped her husband with some work on his van.
Spooner and his wife were family, as far as she’s concerned. “He and his wife have been in love since they were 13 years old,” Hunt said. “They have the most beautiful young family.
” Spooner was raised in Weare and had only worked at Haynes Mulch a short time, she said. He had previously worked as a mechanic in Hillsborough. Hunt and Stockhaus both said Spooner was a hard-working, spiritual young man who always made time beyond his regular work to help others.
“Always so full of encouragement no matter what, and we’ve lost a dear, dear friend,” Hunt said. “It’s just a shock and a sadness that we don’t get to have an entire lifetime with him,” Stockhaus said. dpierce@unionleader.
com.
