Friend of Scrogin, Kylie () [40531:J] [8c2r].
Rockford Register Star, 10 Nov 2016 [Legacy]
Find A Grave, Evan J Hopperstad, 9 Nov 2016 [14 Nov 2016]
Rockford Register Star, Georgette Braun: Dangerous lineman job claims life of Capron man, 13 Nov 2016
(Updated 14 Nov 2016
Evan J. Hopperstad 1986—2016
Evan J. Hopperstad [54869:J, fb], 30, of Capron, IL, passed away suddenly, Tuesday, November 8, 2016, at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, after a tragic work accident. Evan was born October 30. 1986, in Rockford, IL, son of Amber (Culvey) and Robert "Joe" Hopperstad. He graduated from North Boone High School, Class of 2005. Evan was a journeyman lineman for Meade Electric, and previously for Intren for 8 years. He was a member of IBEW Local 196, Boone County Farm Bureau, and Timber Pointe Golf Club. Evan enjoyed golfing, riding his motorcycle, and snowmobiling. Most of all, he adored his sons and family; he loved taking them fishing and to the creek. Evan is loved and dearly missed by his children, Knox [55023:J] and Kane [55024:J] Hopperstad; girlfriend, Kylie Scrogin [40531:J, fb]; parents, Amber (Dave) Dill, and Joe (Roxanne) Hopperstad; sisters, Brianne Pearson, Falynne (Mark) Bethel; step-siblings, Katie (Joseph) Appelhans, Joscelynn (Carlos) Martinez, Samantha (Cody) Whitford, Zachary (Darby Scrogin [40532:J, fb]) Dill and Mackenzie Dill; 2 special brothers, Joshua and Jeremy Bullard; numerous aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, a host of close, close friends; and his beloved dog, Shaylee. He is preceded in death by his maternal and paternal grandparents; 2 infant brothers, Erik and Chasen Hopperstad; uncles, Billy Culvey and Mike "Hop" Hopperstad.
Funeral services will be held at 2:30 p.m., Saturday, November 12, 2016, at Anderson Funeral and Cremation Services, 218 W. Hurlbut Ave, Belvidere, IL 61008. A visitation will be held from 10 a.m. until 1:45 p.m., prior to the service. Burial in Shattuck Grove Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Evan Hopperstad memorial fund, which will go into a trust for his two boys, at Poplar Grove State Bank. To light a candle or share a condolence, please visit www.AndersonFCS.com.
Published in Rockford Register Star on Nov. 10, 2016
Evan J Hopperstad
Birth: Oct. 30, 1986
Death: Nov. 8, 2016
Boone County
Illinois, USA
* * *
Burial:
Shattucks Grove Cemetery
Belvidere
Boone County
Illinois, USA
Created by: Charles Drewes
Record added: Nov 09, 2016
Find A Grave Memorial# 172478569
Georgette Braun: Dangerous lineman job claims life of Capron man
By Georgette Braun
Staff writer
Amber Dill knew her son Evan Hopperstad's job as an electrical lineman would be dangerous.
In 2012, CNNMoney ranked it among the top 10 most dangerous jobs in America. And according to the most recent figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 25 electrical power-line installers and repairers died in 2014.
"I was terrified, and I begged him not to do it," she told me Thursday. Her son decided in his late teens that he wanted to be a lineman. "I was 17 years old when a family friend ... who was on the line died," Dill said.
Hopperstad, 30, of Capron met the same fate Nov. 7 when he was standing in a bucket truck that lifted him to an electrical line at Montague Street and Weldon Road near the village of Winnebago. He came into contact with a charged wire. He was airlifted after men on his crew and emergency personnel tried to resuscitate him.
Hopperstad, who liked to golf and was the father of two young boys, died at a Madison, Wisconsin, hospital Nov. 8.
"It was my biggest fear," Dill said.
I share that fear. My son, Zach Braun, 37, is a journeyman lineman, too. He worked with Hopperstad a few times.
But Hopperstad reassured his mom as my son does me that practicing safety is drilled into them, and they are highly trained for the job they do. Linemen are apprentices for 3 1/2 years before they become journeymen. They wear harnesses when they're aloft and rubber gloves for protection.
Representatives of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 196 said Hopperstad came in contact with a 7,200-volt charge. "That is a lot of power," my son told me, a "large but typical distribution voltage." A transformer that feeds into a house is between 120 and 240 volts, he said.
Dill said that her son was an organ donor. He had "beautiful eyes," she said, though many of his internal organs could not be harvested because of the way he died.
Joshua Bullard, 31, of Belvidere, a lifelong friend of Hopperstad's, works on the ground electrical crew for Intren, the company where Hopperstad started. It's where Hopperstad's dad, Joe Hopperstad, is a foreman. Bullard told me that he was at work on Friday, and supervisors reminded him to "take it easy." "I'm going to check my steps one more time," he said.
Hopperstad had been working for Meade Electric for the past few months. His job at Intren required him to travel into the Chicago area often, and he wanted to be closer to home to care for his sons.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the circumstances of his fatal accident, and the federal agency's work could be completed in six months, said Jacob Scott, of the Aurora office.
Bullard said that despite all the training and safety measures, the job is perilous. "It happens in the blink of an eye," he said. He was a pallbearer at Hopperstad's funeral at Anderson Funeral and Cremation Services on Saturday. Pallbearers wore hard hats and flannel shirts.
Bucket trucks, like the one Hopperstad worked in, were part of the procession to Hopperstad's burial at Shattucks Grove Cemetery, southeast of Belvidere. Hundreds attended the services.
Hopperstad, who grew up in Poplar Grove and Belvidere, had a lot of lifelong friends, Bullard said. He "lit up a room," his mother said. And then there's the brotherhood among linemen.
"Mostly, we're family men who spend most of their time in hotels away from family," Russell Kilker, who worked with Hopperstad about three years ago, told me in a Facebook message. Like Hopperstad and my son, many linemen travel on storm duty into disaster sites to repair lines, working long hours and at night.
Dill said her son took pride in his work and "loved it when people cheered when their power was turned back on." He liked the overtime and double-time money he made on storm duty, in addition to the good pay for the job.
A creek runs through the 5-acre property where he lived and his mailbox resembles a lineman's pole. He drove a new GMC truck and had a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Hopperstad's son Knox, 4, drove his little brother Kane, 1½, around in a little electric six-wheeler. They fished with their dad.
A GoFundMe page — tinyurl.com/zrzntlj — was established to benefit Hopperstad's children and girlfriend, Kylie Scrogin, the mother of their two sons.
Scrogin wrote in a Facebook post that she "kept my head on his as he took his last breath." Hopperstad was 6 feet, 1 inch tall. He weighed 220 pounds, "without an ounce of fat on him," his mother said.
Scrogin said Hopperstad "always told it like it was ... but would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it."
As for his job, she said: "He wouldn't have traded being a lineman for any other job."
Georgette Braun: 815-987-1331; gbraun@rrstar.com; @GeorgetteBraun
No comments:
Post a Comment