Harlan County lost two school employees to COVID-19 in two days last week
Harlan County Public Schools lost two employees to COVID-19 in two days last week.
The school district expressed condolences on the deaths of custodian Oscar Grubbs, 70, and school bus driver James “Tom” Bowers, 67, in a Facebook post Friday. The post said the deaths “were COVID-19 related.”
Grubbs was a custodian at Black Mountain Elementary School, and Bowers was a bus driver for Evarts Elementary School.
“The Harlan County Board of Education, the faculty and staff of Harlan County Public Schools express our deepest condolences to the families of James Tom Bowers and Oscar Grubbs,” the school system said in the post . “...Our thoughts and prayers are with their families, friends, students and colleagues at their respective schools.”
According to the school employee group KY 120 United and school district officials across the state, 51 Kentucky school employees have died of COVID-19 related illnesses since 2020.
An obituary from Henson & Rich Funeral Home in Harlan said Grubbs, of Cawood, died Monday at his home.
He had been a custodian for many years at Black Mountain E.lementary and is survived by two daughters and two grandsons, the obituary stated.
Bowers, of Brookside, died Sunday, according to an obituary from Anderson-Laws & Jones Funeral Home in Harlan.
Before becoming a bus driver, he had retired from working as a mine foreman. His obituary said he was an important part of the food ministry at Verda First Baptist Church and enjoyed growing a big garden.
“Tom dearly loved his family, especially his daughter Sarah and his grandchildren,” the obituary stated. “He could light up a room with his big personality and quick humor.”
The men’s vaccination status was not immediately known.
Herald-Leader staff writer Valarie Honeycutt Spears contributed to this report.
