In November 2025, the Georgia Department of Transportation presented Ralph Beaver (above at left), a maintenance foreman with the agency, with its Heroism Award and its Sean Kornacki Award for risking his life to save two motorists and a police officer while responding to a highway incident.
[Above photo by the Georgia DOT]
The annual Georgia DOT Heroism Award is given to an agency employee, or occasionally a team, who has performed a heroic act or life-saving action while on the job or in the line of duty. The Sean Kornacki Award – created in memory of its namesake, a Georgia DOT foreman who tragically lost his life while on duty – is given annually to an agency highway maintenance foreman who shows exceptional commitment to roadway safety…