William McCarty, who represented the Carrollton area on Isle of Wight County’s Board of Supervisors, died unexpectedly Jan. 25. He was 48.

Healing Waters Worship Center, where McCarty served as pastor, announced his death on social media.

“It is with a broken and heavy heart that we inform you that our beloved friend, counselor, and shepherd, ‘Pastor MAC’ McCarty passed away earlier this evening,” Healing Waters Worship Center posted on its Facebook page.

The Virginia Church of God State Office, the denomination with which Healing Waters is affiliated, said in a statement on Facebook that McCarty had come down with double pneumonia while on a cruise with his family. He was transported from the ship to a Fort Lauderdale, Florida, hospital, where medical professionals were unable to stop the infection.

McCarty was first elected as a county supervisor for the Newport District, now District 2, in 2015, at age 39, and took office Jan. 1, 2016. He was elected alongside Joel Acree, who won that year’s race for the former Windsor District, now District 4, seat, and Dick Grice, who served two terms through 2023 as the former Smithfield District representative. McCarty and Acree were each reelected to their third terms in 2023.

“He was a dear friend,” said Acree.

Acree said McCarty became like a brother to him during their eight years on the board. It was their shared Christian faith, he said, that led each of them to run in 2015 for their respective board seats.

“Going through something like this I would have picked up the phone and called him; I can’t call him now,” Acree said.

“It’s a pretty big shock,” said Board Chairman Don Rosie.

“William was deeply loved by the community and this is a significant loss for all of us; whether you agreed with everything he did or not, the fact was he was a committed citizen, not just in terms of serving on the board,” Rosie said.

“Pastor McCarty and his wife Amanda, have given twenty-plus years of their lives to the congregation of Healing Waters Worship Center in Carrollton, VA. His love for his family, his church, and his community were unmatched,” the Church of God State Office said in its statement. “To know him, was to love him. His infectious laugh and jovial spirit will never be forgotten.”

Rosie noted that two weeks before his passing, McCarty connected Healing Waters’ food pantry, Isle of Wight County’s Christian Outreach Program and the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore with Publix ahead of the Jan. 15 opening of the Florida-based grocer’s newest store off Carrollton Boulevard.

“He tried to live the life of a Christian,” Rosie said.

Last year, McCarty was elected president for the Virginia Association of Counties’ 2024-25 term. VACO is the primary advocacy organization for Virginia’s 95 counties. McCarty was named second vice president in 2022 and first vice president in 2023. He previously served as a member of the VACO Board of Directors representing Region 1, which consists of Accomack, Northampton, Prince George, Southampton, Surry, Sussex and Isle of Wight counties.

A special election will need to be held to fill the remainder of McCarty’s Board of Supervisors term, which would have extended through 2027. The supervisors can appoint an interim representative to serve until McCarty’s replacement is elected.

McCarty came to Isle of Wight in 1999, at age 22, with a plan to breathe life into the dwindling Smithfield Church of God congregation. There were only five people in Smithfield’s 1979-founded congregation when McCarty preached his first sermon, according to past reporting by The Smithfield Times.

By 2003, as recounted in a Times interview with McCarty that year, what is now Healing Waters’ campus consisted of an empty field, a deteriorating wooden sign that read “future site of Smithfield Church of God,” and $200 in the church’s building fund. The state board for the Church of God denomination was even considering dissolving the congregation, given that there was already a Carrollton Church of God near the county’s border with north Suffolk, five miles east of Healing Waters’ location on Smiths Neck Road.

“They were strongly considering shutting the whole thing down,” McCarty told the Times in that interview. “But blessings just started coming immediately.”

“The men and women of the Sheriff’s Office are saddened at the loss of Pastor Mac. He was a true public servant,” said Sheriff James Clarke on Facebook. “We join our community and his family in grieving the loss of Pastor ‘MAC’ McCarty. As a former Chairman of the Isle of Wight County Board of Supervisors he understood first responders well. Chairman McCarty was especially thoughtful with the ever evolving needs of our office. We are thankful for his many years of guidance and support.”

“His longstanding service on the Isle of Wight County Board of Supervisors, coupled with his significant contributions to the Carrollton Vol. Fire Department, will forever leave a lasting impact on our community,” the Carrollton VFD said in a statement on its Facebook page. “His dedication and leadership within the county will be remembered with respect and gratitude.”

Funeral arrangements have not been announced.

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 1:16 p.m. on Jan. 26 with additional comments and at 11:52 a.m. on Jan. 27 with the cause of death.