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Special Weekend at the Boone Bike Rally Ends Tragically Saturday, Newlywed From Virginia Dies of Heart Attack

By Jesse Wood

June 2, 2014. Such a special weekend at the annual Boone Bike Rally ended sadly on Saturday.

Before dawn on Thursday, Mark Whitescarver of Virginia and Dawn Dove, his soon-to-be wife, couldn’t sleep on the eve of their wedding that was planned for Friday at the motorcycle rally at the High Country Fairgrounds. So Whitescarver and Dove packed the trailer in the middle of the night and hit the road for Boone.

Mark Whitescarver - Photo from Whitescarver's Facebook page
Mark Whitescarver – Photo from Whitescarver’s Facebook page

At 3:25 a.m. last Thursday, Whitescarver posted on Facebook: “We hope to see lots of our friends down in Boone at the Bike Rally for our very special day. Thank you all for the prayers and well wishes. LOOK OUT BOONE HERE WE COME!!!!!!!!!!!”

Dove and Whitescarver knew each other for nearly 20 years, according to a feature of their wedding in the Watauga Democrat, which noted that they initially met at a Dairy Queen in Blacksburg but didn’t reconnect until four years ago.

“It’s been awesome ever since,” Dove told the paper.

They were married on Friday with plans to sign get their marriage license after the weekend.

On Saturday, Whitescarver died of a heart attack.

Watauga County Sheriff Len Hagaman said the man that died was 44 years old and had married the night before. Hagaman said he was found unresponsive in his tent and that Watauga Medics and the Boone Fire Department performed CPR.

“It didn’t work,” Hagaman said.

While Hagaman didn’t release the name of the individual that died, Dove confirmed the death on her late husband’s Facebook account.

“My very loving husband, best friend and love of my life past away due to a massive heart attack. Thank you to all our family and friends for your thoughts and prayer as well as all of our very close friends in Boone,” Dove wrote on Sunday morning.

Details of Whitescarver’s funeral are pending with Horne Funeral Home & Crematory in Christiansburg, Va., in charge of the arrangements.