Auto mechanics teacher Herbert Earl Wilkerson really loved showing his students how things worked.

"He was constantly teaching people," said his daughter, Karen Cagle of Kernersville, N.C. "He loved to build things. He could fix anything.

"He was a patient man, a man of not many words. But when he spoke, his students listened."

Mr. Wilkerson, who retired about five years ago atBluestone High School in Mecklenburg County, will be remembered at a funeral Friday. The service will be at 2 p.m. at Watkins-Cooper-Lyon Funeral Home in Clarksville. Burial will be in Liberty Baptist Church Cemetery in Finchley, where he was a member.

The 68-year-old mechanic died of complications of lung cancer Tuesday in a South Boston hospital.

He taught about 17 years, first at Park View High School in South Hill and later at Bluestone High School.

"He had several students who credited him with them going on to work with NASCAR and the big trucking companies," Cagle said.

One of three children born to a railroad employee and his wife, Mr. Wilkerson graduated from Bluestone High School, where he was an athlete, in 1957.

The next year he completed auto mechanics training at Danville Technical Institute and then served in the Coast Guard. He was based in Norfolk and New York.

"He went to Greenland on icebreakers. He would show me pictures of breaking through the ice and talk about how beautiful it was," Cagle said.

After returning from the service, he worked at a salvage yard with a garage. He later opened Wilkerson Garage in Finchley, which he ran about 25 years except for a brief stint where he worked as an insurance adjuster.

Mr. Wilkerson then worked overseeing the auto shop at Moore Chevrolet in Clarksville before going into teaching.

For many years he played softball in a small community league at Boydton Baseball Park in Boydton, where he also coached men's and girls softball teams.

Survivors, besides his daughter, include his wife of 42 years, Carolyn Rogers Wilkerson; a son, Anthony "Tony" Wilkerson of South Boston; and two grandchildren.