Names added to Wall of the Fallen for 2015
September 14, 2016 / CHATTANOOGA, TN – The International Towing & Recovery Hall of Fame and Museum added 22 new names to the Wall of the Fallen during its tenth annual ceremony honoring towing operators who have died in the line of service.
The names include those from previous years as the details of fatalities become known. In all, the Wall of the Fallen now has over 400 names of men and women who have lost their lives serving the towing and road service industry. (See below for complete list of towing operator names added in 2016.)
One towing operator dies every six days while on the job, according to Jeffrey Godwin, chair of the museum’s Wall of the Fallen as well as its Survivor Fund.
The Wall of the Fallen ceremony seeks to honor towing operators whose lives were cut short and the Survivor Fund provides a one-time gift to the families. Survivors’ families also receive a Certificate of Honor.
The annual ceremony also aims to boost motorists’ awareness of Move Over laws in effect in all 50 states that require drivers either to move over one lane and/or slow down when approaching an emergency vehicle. Some – but not all – states designate tow trucks as emergency vehicles.
The motoring public’s failure to slow down or move over – in addition to drunken or negligent driving – each year unnecessarily claims many towers’ lives.
Museum President Troy Barnett acknowledged the difficulty of losing a driver at the beginning of this year’s ceremony. “Two years ago I lost my senior driver while recovering an accident,” said Barnett also of Barnett’s Towing in Phoenix, AZ. “I am reminded once again the difficult time you are going through.”
Learn more about the Wall of the Fallen and the International Towing & Recovery Museum by visiting towingmuseum.com
2016 Wall of the Fallen
(in alphabetical order)
Name State Year of Death
Frank D. Baity NC 2004
Robert L. Carter IN 2015
Sam W. Collins TN 2013
Richard S. Eaton ND 2016
Daniel F. Getty NE 1995
Daniel G. Haro AZ 2016
Paul R. Hayes, Jr. KY 2015
Edward Kammerer MO 2015
John Martins MA 2015
James E. Mills, Jr. SC 2015
David A. Moore OK 2015
Charles E. Myers WV 2016
Barbara C. Pettis IL 2016
Stephen M. Ricketson LA 2015
Gene L. Schofield, Jr. AL 2016
Jack L. Schultz PA 1991
Jason W. Schultz MI 2016
Fred Scroggs, Jr. MI 2015
Robert M Walters TX 2005
Eric L. Wiles NC 2015
Rico L. Wills, Sr. GA 2016
Eshagh Yousefzadeh CA 2015