Allen Ray McGrew died in July 2024 after a firework exploded while he was celebrating at a neighborhood block party in Summerville, located in Dorchester County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 41-year-old had spent the evening celebrating what his family described as his favorite holiday. Videos later shared online showed him dancing, smoking a cigarette, and wearing an Uncle Sam costume while friends and relatives laughed nearby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In one video, someone can be heard saying, \u201cHe\u2019s dancing to his own tune,\u201d while another person joked that the \u201cbig show\u201d would be starting soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moments later, the celebration turned tragic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Allen Ray McGrew died during 4th of July celebration
Speaking to The Post and Courier, Allen\u2019s wife Paige said he appeared to be preparing to place a large firework on the ground after holding it above his top hat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI thought he was just showboating before he set it on the ground. I didn\u2019t realize he had already lit it,\u201d she told the publication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She later shared that shortly before the tragedy, her husband hugged her and their son and told them: \u201cYou are my rock, and you are my heart,\u201d explaining afterward: \u201cMe being his rock and his son being his heart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Allen Ray McGrew
Credit: X
A South Carolina family is remembering the final words of a father who was killed in a devastating fireworks accident during a 4th of July celebration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Allen Ray McGrew died in July 2024 after a firework exploded while he was celebrating at a neighborhood block party in Summerville, located in Dorchester County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 41-year-old had spent the evening celebrating what his family described as his favorite holiday. Videos later shared online showed him dancing, smoking a cigarette, and wearing an Uncle Sam costume while friends and relatives laughed nearby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In one video, someone can be heard saying, \u201cHe\u2019s dancing to his own tune,\u201d while another person joked that the \u201cbig show\u201d would be starting soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moments later, the celebration turned tragic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Allen Ray McGrew died during 4th of July celebration
Speaking to The Post and Courier, Allen\u2019s wife Paige said he appeared to be preparing to place a large firework on the ground after holding it above his top hat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI thought he was just showboating before he set it on the ground. I didn\u2019t realize he had already lit it,\u201d she told the publication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She later shared that shortly before the tragedy, her husband hugged her and their son and told them: \u201cYou are my rock, and you are my heart,\u201d explaining afterward: \u201cMe being his rock and his son being his heart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to a police report obtained by WCBD, Paige yelled for her husband to stop, but the firework detonated before he could react. He collapsed immediately after suffering catastrophic head injuries, according to VT. Authorities said the injuries likely killed him instantly, and he was pronounced dead at the scene at 11:10 p.m. The incident happened at around 10:30 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe was a patriot\u201d
Allen\u2019s son, Hunter McGrew, who was 20 at the time, later told The New York Post: \u201cWe\u2019re traumatized.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The family also pushed back against online criticism following the accident, saying Allen should not be remembered as a \u201cdrunken fool.\u201d They explained that while he rarely drank alcohol, he had been drinking that day to celebrate both Independence Day and his son\u2019s recent engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe was a patriot, he was proud of his son and he was excited to have a new daughter-in-law, he was living his best life last night,\u201d Paige said, per The Post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe loved this country and looked forward to celebrating every year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a separate interview with The Post and Courier, Paige reflected on how much Allen loved the holiday. She said he fully embraced the celebration by dressing as Uncle Sam and even wearing a fake white beard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She recalled him unexpectedly showing up at her office in the costume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was on the phone with a client and I just lost it, I was laughing so hard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI had to tell her what was going on. That was Allen. He was a genuine, good person and he loved life. He worked hard and he played hard,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Allen Ray McGrew died in July 2024 after a firework exploded while he was celebrating at a neighborhood block party in Summerville, located in Dorchester County. The 41-year-old had spent the evening celebrating what his family described as his favorite holiday. Videos later shared online showed him dancing, smoking a cigarette, and wearing an Uncle …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14644,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14643"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14645,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14643\/revisions\/14645"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}