Memorials to UTU members killed on the job in 2010

Josh Roper
In Mobile, Ala., conductor Josh Roper, 27, died Sept. 4 while working a conventional switching job with Alabama State Docks Terminal Railroad. He had been furloughed by CSX before hiring on with the state-owned railroad. Roper was member of UTU Local 598. He is survived by his wife, Cassie, and two-year-old daughter.

John M. McCabe
John M. McCabe, 52, of Ridley Park, Pa., and member of UTU Local 1390 died Thursday, Sept. 2, near Paulsboro, N.J. FRA investigators said the Conrail Shared Assets conductor was killed during a two-man conventional switching move into an industrial facility. The FRA said the move was observed by a surveillance camera “seconds before impact.”

Kurt Ward
Kurt Ward, a 35-year-old UTU member, died following an on-duty accident early July 13 on Pan Am Southern Railway. Ward, of North Conway, N.H., a member of UTU Local 587 at Greenfield, Mass., was caught under a railroad car as he and others attempted to uncouple it from an engine while they were working in a River Road railroad yard. He died from his injuries at Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield. He is survived by his mother, Lee Ward; father, Roy Ward; brother, Keith; and sister-in-law, Laurie.

Frederick Gibbs
Frederick Gibbs, a 52-year-old on-duty CSX conductor, was shot to death June 20 in what New Orleans police say was a botched robbery attempt. The shooter reportedly entered the locomotive cab and began firing. The intermodal train, enroute to New Orleans from Atlanta, was stopped near downtown New Orleans awaiting clearance into a terminal when the crime occurred. Gibbs is survived by his wife, Gwen; mother, Alneda Gibbs; two sons and four grandchildren.

Jeff Scholl
UTU member and Nebraska Central engineer Jeff Scholl, 38, of Norfolk, Neb., died June 15 after a railroad bridge collapsed near Sara’s Lake in Norfolk. Scholl was a member of UTU Local 367. He is survived by his wife, Suzie, and sons, Ryan and Brendan.

Marshall W. Conner
Marshall W. Conner, 54, a member of UTU Local 610, died after being struck by a train June 10. Conner, a 26-year veteran railroader and a resident of Spring Grove, Va., was hit by a northbound freight train traveling a parallel track while he was conducting an air brake test at a CSX yard north of Richmond. Conner is survived by his wife of 34 years, Debi Conner; son, Eric Conner and wife, Hilary and their daughter, Haley; daughter, Kelly Stallings and husband, Drew; mother, Dorothy Conner; and two brothers and three sisters.

Malinda Jean Carter
Malinda Jean Carter, 36, a member of Local 1534, Chicago, was killed April 23, 2010, in a switching accident at CSX¹s Barr Yard in Riverside, Ill. She was chairperson of her local’s remote control operation (RCO) oversight committee and was employed by CSX for almost seven years. She is survived by her mother and father, Delois and Ray Carter, a brother, David, a sister, Mildred, and many nieces and nephews.

Aaron Milhouse
UTU member Aaron Milhouse, 46, died Jan. 14 from injuries suffered as a result of a Norfolk Southern train fire Jan. 12. Milhouse, a member of Local 1053, in Selma, Ala., was burned when his train encountered a burning trestle in Clarke County, then ground to a stop directly over the fire. He is survived by his wife, Rachel, his son, Aaron Jr., and his father, Dawson.