WALKER COUNTY, Ga. — A Georgia Department of Transportation worker was killed this week while helping to clear storm debris.
The 40-year-old man worked for the Georgia DOT as a maintenance department foreman for 16 years.
It was his work ethic, that brought 40-year-old Sean Kornacki out overnight as severe weather swept across Georgia.
"He had a good sense of humor. He was a good family man. He worked hard," said Sean's mother, Kim Kornacki. "He was on-call all the time. He didn't hesitate, he could come home from work and not have his boots and they'd say he'd have to come back into work and he'd go in and take care of it."
Sean's mom says her son was up on a fallen tree, trying to cut it up, when the tree fell and landed on top of him.
Sean was killed instantly.
"The first thing I said is I'm supposed to go first because I've been battling cancer for 10 years," said Kim.
As she's been battling the fight of her life, Kim Kornacki says her son never left her side.
"He took care of me, I lived with him for roughly seven years then I got my own place," said Kim.
If the loss of her son wasn't enough on this Friday the thirteenth...
"It was a bad day, the anniversary of my mother's death," said Kim.
She says it's a day she'd rather skip from this point forward, but she has comfort knowing, her mom and Sean's grandma were waiting on him this morning.
"With her arms wide open you know because she loved him so much," said Kim.
Sean is survived by his 18-year-old daughter.
