DOBSON — Just short of a year ago, friends and family mourned the death of Adam Marion, a 26-year-old Army National Guardsman from Dobson, who was killed while serving in Iraq last April.

Next month, friends, family and the community will honor his memory at golf tournament to benefit the Children’s Center of Surry.

Pfc. Adam Marion, who volunteered at the Children’s Center as a teenager, was remembered as someone who loved children by employees and volunteers, said Robin Testerman, the executive director of the Children’s Center.

“He had a strong feeling in his heart for children,” she said of Marion, who worked for the center shortly before going into the military.

Nancy Roth, the coordinator of Parents as Teachers in Surry County, said she only worked alongside Marion for a short time, but remembers he had a strong passion for helping children.

“I knew Adam a short while, but that little smile of his was just contagious,” she said.

The proceeds from the golf tournament, which will be at Cedarbrook Country Club on April 23, will go toward renovating a Family Resource Center for the Children’s Center. The center will also be named in honor of Marion.

The brick building behind the Lighthouse Restaurant in Dobson will be the home of the Family Resource Center. The cost of renovations, which include a new roof, repairing the heating/air system and constructing another foundation, is around $100,000, Testerman said.

“There’s a lot to be done,” she said of the center, which is expected to open in the summer.

The new location will move the family-oriented programs out of the basement of the Children’s Center home on Prison Camp Road in Dobson.

Testerman said that Marion’s parents, Donnie and Pam Marion, have been supportive of the Children’s Center’s efforts, and it seemed fitting to have the Family Resource Center named after their son.

“Adam was a hero to the Children’s Center and a hero to our country,” Testerman said. “He had a great love for children, and this is a great way to honor his memory.”

She said the center is a place to make families strong and any support from the community represents commitment toward that effort.

Last year, the center served more than 1,700 parents and children through both programs for parents, and residency.

The first Pfc. Adam Lee Marion Memorial Golf Tournament will kick off at noon with lunch at the Cedarbrook Country Club, followed by tee time at 1 p.m. The entry fee is $75. The format of the game is Captain’s Choice with four-person teams and three flights.

For more information, contact the Children’s Center of Surry at 386-9144 or Cedarbrook Country Club at 835-2320.

Contact Erin C. Perkins at eperkins@mtairynews.com or 719-1952.