ADAMSTOWN, Md. — Mark Steven Williams was excited to finally have a job with an impact on the community, even if it was collecting recycling in bitter weather at the age of 64, according to his family.
Williams was killed Monday when the truck he was riding on the back of skidded on a snowy Frederick County road and rolled over, according to the Frederick County Sheriff’s Department.
It was his first day on the job working for Ecology Services Recycle Disposal of Frederick, according to Williams’ brother.
Mark Steven Williams was working hard to undo a lifetime of bad decisions, run-ins with the law and struggles with drugs, Brother David Williams of Tuscon Arizona said.
“He was on a good path despite his struggles,” Williams said.
“He was always charismatic. He made friends easily,” his brother added.
Mark Steven Williams had recently served six years in prison on a burglary conviction in Maryland and had been living in the Allen P. Linton Jr. Emergency Shelter in Frederick since mid-summer, according to his brother and Shelter Director Kavonte Duckett.
“This is definitely a tough loss not only for his own family but for the shelter family,” Duckett said. “He was having a positive impact on the lives of people in this family here.”
Duckett said Williams had become a leader and a reliable presence at substance abuse recovery meetings and had been enthusiastic about the resume building and job training opportunities at the shelter.
“It had been challenging for him to find a job because of his background and someone took a chance on him,” Duckett said.
“Picking up recycling may not be a great job for a lot of people, but it was something he was really eager about,” Williams’ brother said.
“It’s just an incredible tragedy that he would be killed on his first day.”
According to his brother, Mark Steven Williams grew up in Montgomery County, Md., and was a standout athlete at Winston Churchill High School in the early 1970s.
He was the oldest of three siblings in his family.
His life became derailed by substance abuse and other challenges, eventually leading to numerous criminal charges and time in prison, his brother said.
Williams had a daughter who died in 2019 at the age of 30, according to his family.
He was 64 years old when he died Monday.
The accident happened in the 6900 block of Ira Sears Road in Adamstown, according to investigators.
According to a press release from the Sheriff’s Department, the truck driver and two passengers of the Ecology Service Recycle Disposal Company were working their route and traveling westbound on Ira Sears Road when the driver failed to negotiate a curve on the ice and snow-covered roadway.
The truck slid off the road and overturned.
The driver and passenger suffered minor injuries but Williams was riding on the back of the truck at the time of the incident and was pinned under the overturned vehicle.
The company is under contract with Frederick County to pick up municipal recycling, according to the Frederick County Office of recycling.
Company representatives did not respond to messages left by WUSA9 Tuesday.
