Morgan Williamson was 3 years old when she noticed her dad’s best friend dropping off her father’s truck at their home in 1992.
“I asked my mom when he was coming home, and she said, ‘He’s not coming home,’ ” said Williamson, 19. “I was young, but I knew what she meant. I didn’t fully grasp the concept of death, but I knew he wasn’t going to be walking through our doors again.”
Williamson’s father, Brian, was in his early 30s when he was fatally injured while working a construction job in Grand Junction. He had been repairing a conveyer belt when it accidentally was left on by a previous user, and the tragedy happened, she said.
Workmen’s compensation insurance provider Pinnacol Foundation, based in Denver, recently announced they would award more than $269,500 in scholarship tuition to students statewide. Statistics show there were 137 deaths from Colorado workplace accidents in 2006. Construction is the leading industry for accidents, said Elizabeth Starkey, executive director of the foundation. Mining follows closely.
Williamson is one of six Western Slope college students who received one of 94 scholarships awarded by Pinnacol to students whose parents were killed or permanently disabled in work-related accidents. She is a third-year recipient of the scholarship, which has awarded her $4,000, and she is studying economics at the University of Oregon. She plans to go into the marketing field.
“Pinnacol really gave me the opportunity to not only get an education, but to go somewhere I really wanted to go and therefore made me happier with my education,” Williamson said. “It gave me piece of mind that people do care and do understand that I have gone through things small and large that people with both parents don’t go through. It comforted me in more ways than just financially.”
Mallory Schmalz, 20, is a Pinnacol scholarship recipient studying elementary education at Mesa State College. Her father was injured in a rollover car accident while working in 2001. The father of four became a quadriplegic as a result.
“We’ve felt blessed he’s still with us,” Schmalz said. “Everybody’s had a good attitude; he has a good attitude. The scholarship covers a good portion at Mesa. I don’t even know what to say, because it helps a lot. I’m very fortunate.”
Other students from the Western Slope who received the scholarship include Alicia Carpenter, of Cedaredge, who attends IntelliTec College; Daniel Deming, of Rifle, who attends Westwood College; Benjamin and Westley Fout, of Glenwood Springs, who attend Colorado Mountain College; Karoline Fry, of Delta, who attends Mesa State; Valerie Hoppe and Megan Miller, both of Grand Junction, who attend Mesa State; and Jill Schoeppner, of Silt, who attends Colorado Mountain College.
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E-mail anna.basquez@gj sentinel.com.
