‘Everybody was his friend’: Horry County pays respects to fallen police officer
Ask any of the hundreds lined up outside North Myrtle Beach High School on Tuesday about Melton Gore and three things are immediately mentioned—his cooking, his helpfulness and his ability to know you in an instant.
“He never met a stranger,” said Van Evans, who knew Gore for decades. “To meet him one time, you never forget him.”
Gore’s impact on Horry County was evident by the hundreds who came out to say goodbye and pay respects to the 57-year-old. Gore died on Jan. 12 after being hit by a car on S.C. 22 as he tried to remove debris from the road. Gore was a 20-year veteran with Horry County police and the fifth active-duty police officer in the area to die in recent months while serving the community.
Gore’s funeral is set for Friday morning.
A line of hundreds, if not thousands, attend the visitation to share stories about Gore and offer support to his family. People waited for hours to have a moment to say goodbye to the man known as “Fox.”
“You can look at the turnout here and tell what kind of person he was, said William Holly Armstrong, Gore’s brother-in-law. “Everyone was his friend. He never turned anybody down.
“I just feel like a loss of a brother,“ he said.
Janice Vereen has known Gore for decades and got to know him through her children, his nephews and community activities.
“He was a happy person,” she remembered.
Vereen said Gore would tease her about her weight, then admit that “Nah, she looked good.” She said she was going to miss that teasing.
What Gore might be most known for was his cooking. There were plenty of stories of his soulful delights shared by those who attended the visitation. Vereen said she asked Gore before her recent vacation to make her some hush puppies for the trip. Gore obliged and she brought the container back to her house.
He told her “anytime,” she recalled.
Like Vereen, friend Leroy James said Gore showed his love of others through his cooking.
“That was his joy, cooking, helping people doing good for the community,” said James, who owns a towing company in Loris.
The coronavirus pandemic hampered Gore’s ability to share his love of cooking with the community, and James said Gore looked forward to when the pandemic was over and he could share a meal with others.
James met Gore while shopping, but the small interaction lasted the rest of Gore’s life. The officer would frequently stop by his shop to chat.
“I’m going to miss seeing that truck rolling by with him in it,” James said. “He’ll be missed by everyone.”
