The North Carolina Board of Funeral Service revoked the At-Need and Preneed Establishment Permits of Hope Valley Hawkins Funeral Service & Cremation on Sept. 9, 2026. The revocation came through a consent order, an agreement that settles a disciplinary case without a contested hearing. The firm's legal name is Harvesting Hope Inc. d/b/a Hope Valley Hawkins Funeral Service & Cremation, at 1246 Hobbton Hwy in Clinton.
The At-Need permit covered funerals arranged at the time of a death; the Preneed permit covered contracts sold and funded in advance. The firm had held funeral establishment (FE) Permit No. 0722 since Jan. 9, 2009, and preneed (PN) Permit No. 0186 since July 16, 2018.
The order names three respondents: the establishment; funeral director Paul Thomas Ayers Hawkins, License No. 3736, the establishment's officer and licensed manager until April 2026; and Stephen Everette Grimes, Funeral Service License No. 1853, the licensed manager since April 16, 2026.
The first case began on April 5, 2026, when a mother delivered an infant son prematurely and the baby died at birth. She contracted for his cremation the next day and signed the authorization on April 15. The order documents her repeated efforts over more than nine weeks to have the cremation performed, without success.
The order states the respondents gave her "shifting and false reasons for the delay, including the misrepresentation that the delays were being caused by a contracted crematory." Her complaint reached board staff on June 18 as Case No. C26-0104. Inspector William Babb, Jr. inspected the establishment on June 22 and confirmed the infant "remained in the case and custody of the Respondent Establishment, without having yet been cremated." The order also finds no crematory the firm did business with had taken custody of the baby, and that respondents had made no arrangements for scheduling or delivery to a crematory.
The firm delivered the infant to Goldsboro Cremation Service on June 23, 2026. The cremation occurred the next day. The dates in the order span 79 days from contract to cremation, roughly 11 weeks after his death.
“Shifting and false reasons for the delay, including the misrepresentation that the delays were being caused by a contracted crematory.”
— NC Board of Funeral Service, Consent Order, Case No. C26-0104, entered Sept. 9, 2026
A second case dates to 2025. A woman arranged her mother's funeral on March 2, 2025, the day after her mother died. She complained to the board on Nov. 7, 2025. The order finds "significant errors" on the decedent's death certificate, and that the firm failed to give NC Vital Records the information needed to amend it. It also finds no statement of funeral goods and services signed by a licensee, as required by N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-210.25(e)(2), and no itemized accounting of the amounts paid. The board concluded the firm violated 16 C.F.R. § 453.2(b)(5) by "reflecting charges for services on the Statement of Funeral Goods and Services Selected that were not requested by, or rendered to, a consumer." The order also cites N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-210.25(e)(1)(i), failure to treat a dead body with respect.
By the Numbers
Ordering paragraph 1 requires all board-issued permits and certificates to reach board staff within ten days of entry. Ordering paragraph 2 places Hawkins' Funeral Director License No. 3736 on a stayed suspension for five years. A stayed suspension is a penalty held in reserve. The board can impose it if he violates conditions that bar practicing unsupervised and working at the 1246 Hobbton Hwy location. Hawkins agreed that "going forward, he will not manage or hold ownership interests in a funeral establishment located in North Carolina." The order also bars him from supervising any board-registered trainee. Its conclusion states he "is not currently fit to practice."
Grimes, the licensed manager since April, is on two years of probation under ordering paragraph 4. The board found she "is currently fit to practice." Hawkins faces two payment deadlines. He must remit the $3,700 civil penalty from the Final Agency Decision in Board Case No. C25-0104 by March 23, 2027. He must also pay $3,037.66 in board staff attorney fees and costs by Dec. 31, 2026.
A Dec. 6, 2023 consent order in Board Case No. C23-0082 put the respondents' licenses under a two-year stayed suspension. A Final Agency Decision followed on March 23, 2026 in Board Case No. C25-0104. That decision suspended Hawkins' license pending a board-sponsored continuing education course on cremation laws, followed by two years of probation. It placed the establishment permit on a two-year stayed suspension. The new order states the acts at issue "constitute violations of the Final Agency Decision entered by the Board on March 23, 2026."
The revocation also reaches preneed contract holders. Every active preneed contract the establishment holds as trustee must reach board staff within the same ten days. The order does not name a successor trustee. The board's offices are at 1033 Wade Avenue, Suite 108, Raleigh.
Hawkins and Grimes each signed the order on Sept. 3, 2026. Board President Le'Shekia Coleman entered it Sept. 9; the matter was heard in Wake County. The board's disciplinary index now carries the September 2026 ruling. That index entry misspells the licensee's name as "Kawkins."
The consent order names the complainants in both cases. Obitley is not republishing their names.
What This Means for You
*Sources: NC Board of Funeral Service, Consent Order, Board Case Nos. C26-0104/C25-0104/C25-0118, entered Sept. 9, 2026, https://ncbfs.org/wp-content/uploads/C26-0104-Consent-Order-fully-executed.pdf; NCBFS Disciplinary Actions index, https://ncbfs.org/disciplinary-actions/.*
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