Honoring a legacy: CoServ awards scholarship in memory of Lineman Roman Juarez

Almost 17 years to the day of his fateful accident, CoServ honored longtime Linemen Crew Supervisor Roman Juarez by awarding a scholarship in his name to Sanger High School senior Makynna Meeks, who plans to study dietetics at Oklahoma State University.

CoServ Vice President of Field Operations Shea Hassell, who worked with Roman, had the honor of presenting the Roman Juarez Memorial Scholarship on Thursday, as he has for the past 16 years.

“CoServ has a long history of awarding scholarships throughout our service area, but the Roman Juarez Memorial Scholarship represents a special bond between CoServ and Sanger High School in memory of a great, hard-working family man that we all miss,” Shea said.  “Roman was a long-time resident of Sanger, and he would be so proud to know that each year a deserving Sanger High School graduate receives a scholarship in his honor so they can pursue their dreams in higher education.”

An endowment from Roman’s co-workers and the Juarez family funds the scholarship.

Roman was responding to an outage when he was struck and killed by a drunk driver on May 13, 2007, just a few weeks before his 42nd birthday. CoServ also named a substation in Roman’s honor.

The incident underscores the dangers linemen face when they respond to outages.

Other highlights from the evening

Two other Sanger High School seniors received scholarships presented by CoServ.

Ariana Hernandez-Villa, received a $5,000 scholarships, which is funded by escheated funds. She plans to attend the University of North Texas in the fall.

Taylor Price, received a $1,000 scholarship from the Sanger Education Foundation, which is funded in part by a CoServ Charitable Foundation (CCF) grant. Taylor plans to study Advertising at the University of Texas at Austin.

You can learn more about the escheated funds process here or the CoServ Charitable Foundation here.