Business owners recovering after crash

Two local business owners who were badly injured in a vehicle accident a week ago are on a slow road to recovery, family members said on Monday.

Elbert and Ella Mobley, who have owned the Bulk and More Store on Fountaintown Road in Duplin County for nearly a decade, are both recuperating in Virginia after their vehicle crashed through a guardrail and rolled down an embankment on Jan. 29, their daughter Valley Mobley said. The couple was driving home from a visit with one of their other daughters when 65-year-old Elbert, who was behind the wheel on VA-288, suffered a severe heart attack and lost control of the vehicle, Valley Mobley said. The couple was taken to Henrico Doctors’ Hospital in Richmond, where Elbert has remained since. Ella Mobley, 62, suffered several spinal fractures but had recovered enough to be discharged Saturday, Mobley said, and is now recuperating at a house owned by a nearby church.

Mobley said her father’s recovery has been slow, but marked.

“He was very bad off for the first couple of days,” she said. “The past few days he has been opening his eyes when we say his name, and he can follow simple commands. He’s doing a lot better than he was, but he still had a long road ahead of him.”

She said he was now on dialysis as he continues to recover.

During the crisis, the family’s store, which sells fresh baked goods and bulk ingredients, has been temporarily closed, Mobley said. She said it would likely be a week before the family could make arrangements to re-open it.

Mobley said her family has received strong support from their home community since the accident.

“I feel like our needs have been met by people close by,” she said. “We just ask that people continue to pray for us and keep us in their thoughts and prayers.”