49th Ky. school employee is dead of COVID. Her brother wants people to get vaccinated.

When Kimberly Williamson, an elementary substitute instructional assistant in Pike County, died of COVID-19 this week, her brother implored people to get vaccinated.

“I would encourage people to get the vaccine,” said Brett Williamson, a Pike school bus driver who had COVID at the same time as his sister but was vaccinated and recovered. ”She wasn’t vaccinated.”

The educator’s group Kentucky 120 United say at least 49 public school employees from pre-K to 12th grade have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic hit in 2020.

Williamson, 46, a mother of two who was engaged to be married, had one grandchild and another on the way.

She was both a substitute instructional assistant and a substitute custodian for Pike County schools. She most often worked at Feds Creek Elementary, district officials said. Williamson also worked in housekeeping at a hospital in Grundy, Virginia.

Williamson became faint in late August while working at the elementary school and an ambulance took her to the hospital, said principal Darin Stiltner. She was on a ventilator for 25 days, Brett Williamson said.

“My heart is shattered,” said her mother Darlene Wolford.

Kimberly Williamson had a pre-existing autoimmune disorder, her family said.

“Everybody that knew her, they loved her,” Williamson said. “She always came to work with a smile and did anything she was asked to do.”

This story was originally published October 1, 2021 at 7:42 AM.