Jeff Estes with wife Jen
Jeff Estes with daughter Natasha and son Cole
Jeff Estes with grandmother Thelma Cook last December
We hear about tragedies every day. Most of the time, the stories are about people we don’t know. Yet some of these tragic stories strike a chord. When I heard about an electrical worker from Ringgold who was killed Thursday in a freak accident in Florida, I had to know more.
Jeff Estes was working as a contractor for a Chattanooga electrical company. His work often took him out of town, leaving a wife, daughter and son behind. In a split second, his life was over. He was only 40 years old.
Jeff was one of those guys we see in the news clips when there’s severe weather. Power lines snap and tree limbs fall during ice storms or tornadoes. A journeyman lineman like Jeff climbs high in the air and works deep in the trenches. They work in remote rural fields and busy city streets. Jeff was a barehand, high-voltage lineman, and his work was steady.
On Thursday afternoon, Jeff was part of a six-member crew working near an intersection called Four Corners in Clermont, Florida, about 25 miles west of Orlando. According to the Orlando Sentinel, three workers were operating the crane, boom, and truck, while Jeff and two others were in a roadside ditch, about 20 feet away from traffic. They were behind a temporary fence, wearing bright safety vests.
Those precautions would not be enough on this day. There was a traffic collision involving a 92-year-old man who pulled out in front of a car driven by a 20-year-old woman. She veered off the road to avoid him, striking Jeff and his two co-workers in the ditch. A nearby mechanic who witnessed the crash said it happened so fast, the victims likely never knew what hit them. The elderly man seemed “disoriented,” according to police, but he had never gotten a ticket in his life.
Late Thursday evening, Jen Estes got an unexpected visit from a Catoosa County Sheriff’s Deputy. It was about her husband Jeff.
He had been in an accident, and she would need to talk to an officer with the Florida Highway Patrol. When her worst fears were confirmed, she called Jeff’s mother Martha. News soon began spreading through this tight-knit family. Martha has three sisters, Sara Curtis, Kay Pendley and Rhonda Hilton. “She called us, and we knew something was wrong, but she was hysterical. We couldn’t understand her,” Kay said. “We rushed over to her house, and that’s how we learned about Jeff. It still doesn’t seem real. He was all packed and ready to come home for Easter.”
“We would always greet him by saying, Hey Trouble,” according to Sara. “He was always up to something. He had an infectious smile and a great sense of humor. He would try to fool us, or play some kind of prank, and he’d usually succeed. Of course that was followed by a big laugh,” she said.
The sisters have had a rough year. In January, their mother Thelma Cook passed away after a brief illness.
At Christmas, Jeff posed for a photo with his grandmother. Everybody knew it would probably be Thelma’s last Christmas. But there was every reason to think Jeff would be around for about fifty more.
Jeff had married Jen about seven years ago, adopting her 19-year-old daughter Natasha as his own.
Their 5-year-old son Cole is “the spitting image of Jeff,” according to Rhonda. “They were like twins, 35 years apart.” Jeff loved taking Cole hunting and fishing, and always looked forward to returning from his work trips, to see how much Cole had grown. The little boy hasn’t yet come to terms with his father’s death. “My daddy got hurt in an accident,” he’ll say. “We may have to send him to Heaven.”
Cole attends Boynton Elementary School, with a staff that is sure to surround him with the love and attention he will need.
As the news about Jeff’s death began to spread, reaction from friends has been overwhelming, according to Jeff’s aunts. “Neighbors have brought food, and we’ve gotten a ton of phone calls,” Sara said. “And Jeff’s IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers #175) family loved him too.”
On this Easter weekend, what was planned as a family homecoming has taken a sad turn. Jeff’s parents, Gary and Martha, his wife Jen, and the extended family are working on travel arrangements and funeral plans. “It still doesn’t seem real,” Jeff’s aunt Sara said. “I don’t think Cole really understands that his daddy isn’t coming home to play with him.”
Let’s use this tragedy as a personal reminder to slow down and focus on driving. Our utility and highway workers face danger every day, as they dodge speeding, distracted and confused drivers. As they build our roads and connect power to our homes, we should give them the space and safety they deserve.
Please keep this family in your thoughts and prayers as they cope with the devastating loss of a son, a husband, and a daddy.
Visitation will be Tuesday, April 7, from 3-8 p.m. at Wilson Funeral Home in Fort Oglethorpe. The funeral service will be Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. in the funeral home chapel.
(From David Carroll’s ChattanoogaRadioTV.com)