n memory and advocacy (five years since her husband drowned on the job no life jacket)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/business/20080426_In_memory_and_advocacy.html

By Jane M. Von Bergen

Inquirer Staff Writer

In the five years since her husband drowned on the job, Holly Shaw has had plenty of time for tears.

Plenty of time to try to shield the children. Plenty of time to ponder the what-ifs and what-could-have-beens, like what would have happened if her husband had been wearing a life jacket.

Those times, now, are over, though the memory is not.

Because, these days, Holly Shaw wants to make sure no other family experiences what hers did.


Holly Shaw and son Ryan, 11, toss roses to honor a husband and father who drowned on the job. She formed an advocacy group.


That's why yesterday, at the annual Workers' Memorial Day remembrance for those who died on the job, Shaw, a schoolteacher from South Philadelphia, announced the formation of a support and advocacy group created by and for the families of those whose relatives went to work and never came home.

"Our mission is not only to provide support, but also to be strong and vocal advocates for worker safety and reform," she said, speaking to hundreds of labor leaders and family members at the event - a breakfast at the Sheet Metal Workers Local 19 Hall in South Philadelphia, followed by a funeral-like procession on Columbus Boulevard to Penn's Landing.

FULL story at link.