Marvin Franklin is Mourned at Hoyt-Schermerhorn
Trackworker Marvin Franklin was mourned at the station where he was struck by a train five years ago. A delegation of Local 100 officers including President John Samuelsen, Secretary-Treasurer Earl Phillips, Adminstrative VP Angel Giboyeaux, MOW VP Tony Utano, rank and file members, and Rabbi Harry Berkowitz, the MTA Chaplain turned out on the mezzanine. On April 29, 2007, Franklin, 55, became another TWU casualty after 22 years of working the night shift. He and another track worker had gone to pick up a dolly on a track with non-functioning warning lights. An oncoming Train Operator saw the men but couldn’t brake in time.
Franklin died as not only a brother Trackworker but as a renowned artist. Coming back from work every morning on the F train to Jamaica, Franklin sketched other passengers and brought the drawings to the Art Students League on 57th Street, where he produced watercolors, oils and etchings based on his sketches.
One critic wrote: "Franklin captured the loneliness of the subway at nighttime — vacant stares, heads tilted in sleep, a mother’s lap used as a pillow for her children’s heads. Franklin’s subjects were often the homeless, who sought shelter in the station. At one time, Franklin himself had been homeless."
TWU Local 100 mourns this extraordinary man each year and sends our condolences to his family.