By James Kirley, TCPalm.com
SEBASTIAN — A Sebring woman has died from injuries she received Saturday night when the boat in which she was a passenger struck a piling in the Indian River about 100 yards east of docks at Captain Hiram’s Resort.

Julie Carlson, 39, died Sunday at Holmes Regional Medical Center, said Joy Hill, spokeswoman for the Florida Fish and Game Conservation Commission, which is investigating the accident. She was airlifted to the Melbourne hospital Saturday night.

Hill said Carlson was in a 22-foot center console boat being operated by her husband, Jeffrey D. Carlson, 40, when its port bow hit a glancing blow off the piling.

Julie Carlson hit either the piling or a sign attached to it, Hill added. She was not thrown from the boat, which immediately returned to the dock for help.

Lance Wilson and wife Fran, parents of Justin Wilson, say final goodbyes during the burial service in March. (Sarah Grile / The Post)

STUART — Fran Wilson’s biggest hope for Monday is that it will bring a beginning.

It has been more than three months since a roadside bomb explosion in Afghanistan ended the life of 24-year-old Marine Lance Cpl. Justin Wilson on March 22.

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And though Fran Wilson knows her family’s grief will remain long after she buries her son’s ashes at Arlington National Cemetery, the kindness of strangers and outpouring of support her family has received since then has made her believe that Monday’s burial could mark the day they will finally begin to move forward.

“Hopefully it’ll help us start the healing process,” Fran Wilson said. “It hasn’t started yet.”

Justin Wilson left behind his parents, a younger brother and sister, and a new wife, Hannah McVeigh, who married Wilson in a civil ceremony just before he left for Afghanistan Nov. 3 and planned to kick off their life together with a big family wedding after he returned.

Cousin Donna Forte’s voice choked with tears Wednesday as she described how her uncle, Justin’s father Lance Wilson, held an urn with his son’s ashes during the family photos at their family reunion last weekend.

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St. Lucie County Property Appraiser Jeff Furst.

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FORT PIERCE — Jeffrey Furst, property appraiser for St. Lucie County since 2001, died Monday after suffering a stroke Friday evening at his Port St. Lucie home.

Furst, 68, was born in Buffalo, NY and had lived in St. Lucie County for 40 years, coming from Charleston, WV.

He had a long history of public service in St. Lucie County. He was a speech therapist for the St. Lucie County School Migrant Program and was a 12-year member of the St. Lucie County School Board.

While on that board, Furst was instrumental in establishing the first magnet schools in the county.

He later became a certified real estate appraiser and agent. It was his desire to serve the community that prompted him to seek the office of property appraiser for the county, which he has held since 2001.

Furst helped organize and was chairman of the board of the now-defunct Port St. Lucie National Bank. He remained a board member of Seacoast National Bank.
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Justin Wilson with his parents Lance Wilson and Frances Wilson. (CBS 12)

Family, loved ones gather to escort Marine’s body to Stuart funeral home

Dead soldier’s family says airline treatment added to grief

By BILL DIPAOLO, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

PALM CITY - Lance Cpl. Justin Wilson of Palm City was scheduled to come home from Afghanistan in 57 days.

Instead, his were parents were on a plane to Delaware Wednesday to meet his body. Wilson was killed Monday in Afghanistan by a roadside bomb.

Wilson, 24, always had to be first, cousin Donna Forte said.

“He was the first in the family to get married. The first to be a Marine. He had to be the best,”  Forte said.

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HOBE SOUND — The architect who designed the Sears Tower as well as skyscrapers in Hong Kong, London and Cairo, died Saturday morning in Hobe Sound.

A memorial service for internationally known architect Bruce J. Graham, 84, will be at 4:30 p.m. in St. Christopher Church, Hobe Sound. Graham died Saturday morning from complications associated with Alzheimer’s disease, said Mike Grossman of SCC Grossman, a Chicago public relations firm representing the family. (more…)