‘Void in our hearts’: Greenup Co. solid waste coordinator dies at 57
GREENUP Greenup County is mourning the loss of its solid waste coordinator.
Just before adjourning Tuesday’s fiscal court meeting, Judge-Executive Bobby Hall paused to remember a man who refused Hospice care in favor of working for his county.
Vance Williams died on Monday at age 57 after a valiant battle with pancreatic cancer.
“Yesterday morning, we lost the toughest man I’ve ever met in my life,” Hall said. “If you were around him, you knew what he battled the last two years. Doctors told him he needed to go to Hospice and he said, ‘No, I’m coming back to work.’”
Williams logged 15 years as a county employee. He regularly appeared on fiscal court meeting agendas, giving encouraging, detailed updates regarding his department and the county as a whole.
Lance Warnock, the solid waste department’s assistant director, worked alongside Williams for the last 15 months.
“Judge Hall asked me to go over there and learn the business and help him,” Warnock said. “I walked in and (Williams) took me by the hand and walked me through everything, how they did things, all the reports with the state, a lot of grants, stuff like that. … I became not only a co-employee, I considered him my friend.”
On Jan. 10, 2023, Greenup County’s commission approved a solid waste five-year management plan, which Williams helped complete from a hospital bed.
In July 2023, Williams was pivotal in the first annual Greenup County Cleanup.
“We love keeping our county clean,” Williams said then.
“He was a dedicated and valued employee of Greenup County for 15 years,” Hall said on Tuesday. “Everyone that was blessed to have Vance in their lives would agree. He was strong, humble and incredibly kind. There is no doubt there will be a void in our hearts as well as our county.”
A graveside military service is scheduled for Thursday at 2 p.m. at Melvin Cemetery in Wurtland.
