News

Franklin police officer and East High graduate remembered as devoted husband, father and son

Franklin Police officer and East Henderson High School graduate Marcus Levi McCarson married his high school sweetheart in 2024. McCarson died in a motorcycle accident this week in Franklin. [photo courtesy of Emily McCarson Ward]

By Amy McCraw, Published: September 19, 2026

The mother of a Franklin Police Department officer who died in an off-duty motorcycle accident this week said she wants people to know her son was a wonderful husband, father and son who loved helping others.

“He loved big,” Emily McCarson Ward said of her son, 21-year-old Marcus Levi McCarson. “He had a servant’s heart. He made sure everyone was taken care of. Everything he did, he did 110 percent.”
Ward, who adopted McCarson when he was just 4 days old, said her biracial son often joked with his mostly white family about race.
“He could always make you laugh. He loved to have fun,” she said. “He would always say he was the only African American cousin.”
McCarson lived most of his life in Henderson County and was a 2023 East Henderson High School graduate. He was a wrestler and football player at East.
McCarson died on Thursday when the motorcycle he was riding while off duty collided with a van on N.C. 28 in Franklin.
McCarson married his high school sweetheart, Abby, in April 2025. The two met while they both participated on their school’s wrestling teams, Marcus at East and Abby at the high school in Franklin, his mother said.
The two welcomed their daughter, Azzi, just two months ago.
Ward said her daughter-in-law is doing the best she can to deal with the death of her husband.
“She’s hanging in there. She’s upset he’s gone,” she said.
McCarson served in the United States Marine Corps before joining the Franklin Police Department in December 2025.
The police department paid tribute to him on the department’s Facebook page on Friday.
“Marcus was loved like a little brother by everyone here at the PD. He served the Town of Franklin with the utmost professionalism and integrity for which we are most grateful,” the Facebook post said.
A funeral service for McCarson will he held at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 22 at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. The family will receive friends at the center from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Burial will follow at the Woodlawn Cemetery in Franklin.
In addition to his wife and daughter and mother, McCarson is survived by his father James McCarson; his brothers and sister, James McCarson, Alexis McCarson, Seth McCarson, and Evan Smith; his father-in-law and mother-in-law, Dennis and Melinda Carpenter; his best friend, Devin Walker; his brothers-in-law, Aiden Carpenter and Avery Carpenter; and the many brothers and sisters he gained through the law enforcement community.
Ward said the family appreciates the love and support they have received after her son’s death.
She asked for continued prayers for the family.
Donations to McCarson’s wife and infant daughter can be made through the State Employees Credit Union. When contacting the credit union, donors should ask for Abby McCarson’s “special account.”