Arkansas and Ohio – In Memoriam: Barbara Ester, Gary Wilson and Ken Stiver

The AFSCME family mourns the recent loss of three members: Sgt. Barbara Ester, a property officer at the East Arkansas Regional Correctional Unit; Gary Wilson and Ken Stiver, wastewater treatment plant operators for the City of Struthers, Ohio. All died in the line of duty.

A founding member of Local 2899 (Council 38), Ester, 47, was stabbed by an inmate, on Jan. 20, while investigating a report that the inmate had contraband items. She was rushed to the infirmary and later transported to a hospital where she died.

Ester was a 12-year veteran of the facility. Her husband and co-worker, Lathen Ester, said that his wife of six years was loved by everybody who knew her. “She was a mother to a lot of the younger inmates coming in who didn’t have the mother figure in their lives.” Adds Local 2899 Pres. Willie Robinson: “Sister Ester went about her job with a great sense of pride.”

The alleged killer, serving a sentence for first-degree murder, was immediately moved to a maximum security wing at the prison. Corrections officials say Ester’s killing is the first death of a corrections officer at the hands of an inmate since 1995 in that state.

In the City of Struthers, Ohio, an explosion fatally injured two members of Local 759 (Council 8).

Gary Wilson and Ken Stiver were going about their maintenance tasks in a room at the wastewater treatment plant when an electrical spark ignited methane gas. The March 1 accident claimed the lives of both men who were hospitalized for several weeks. Wilson died on March 29 and Stiver on April 16.

“Brother Wilson and Brother Stiver lived lives of service devoted to their community,” says Council 8 Pres. John Lyall. “Our hearts go out to their families.”

Wilson was instrumental in organizing his co-workers to form Local 759.

AFSCME honors all workers killed or severely injured on the job by celebrating Workers Memorial Day each year on April 28.