Memorial services scheduled for Wilbert Hooten

Funeral arrangements for 64-year-old conductor Wilbert Hooten, a member of UTU Local 1290, Chicago, Illinois, have been scheduled to take place Saturday, July 24, 1999. Services will be conducted at Liberty Baptist Church, 4849 S. King Drive, Chicago. Visitation will be from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., and the funeral will begin at 11:00 a.m. and last until 12:00 p.m. Uniformed Metra conductors will serve as honor guards. Joe Szabo said fellow workers will observe the funeral rituals traditionally carried out by members of the former Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, a UTU predecessor union, in recognition of Hooten's nearly 30 years of rail service on the Illinois Central and Metra.

Wilbert Hooten's untimely death resulted from a suspected robbery attempt while the train was stopped the night of Saturday, July 17, 1999 at 121st Street and Halsted Avenue on the Blue Island branch of the Metra Electric District. The incident was the first crime-related death aboard a Metra train.

Hooten will be remembered for his love of jazz music and his family.