“When I heard about "Cas" I was like my hand went over my heart. I was like God took the wrong person,” Al Beaupre of Caltrans told NBC 7.
A Navy veteran and Caltrans maintenance worker, William Casdorph, also called “Cas,” always went by the book.
“He always went out of his way to make sure that you did things right and you did things the safe way,” Beaupre said.
Casdorph died on Sept. 19 after falling 60 feet from an SR-163 overpass.
A private funeral mass was held Saturday morning at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Chula Vista. A private committal service and a private viewing were held afterward.
“Our maintenance folks, they do a difficult, hard job every day,” said Caltrans director Laurie Berman. "They're out most nights and what we hope for them is that they make it home to their own families at the end of the day and unfortunately he did not make it home to his own family and so we're all missing him. "
He is the 189th California Caltrans worker to lose his life on the job.
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Governor Jerry Brown sent his own condolences calling “Cas” a dedicated public servant who worked to make our roads safer for nearly two decades."
He worked for 19 years for Caltrans most recently as a maintenance leadworker.
He is survived by his wife, Maria and three daughters, Priscilla, Wendy and Ana.
“This is the guy who didn't cut any of the rules, that did everything by the book,” Beaupre added. “It makes it that much harder to take. It’s heartbreaking it really is.”
Caltrans has set up the William Casdorph Memorial Fund.
