The Stempa house in Shawano is filled with pictures in memory of their son Derek.
"You just never think it's going to happen to you, and when it does it just numbs you," said Derek's mother Kathy Stempa. "The reality still hasn't set in that he's actually gone forever."
Derek was a Shawano County highway worker killed in a work zone accident last May.
"It should never have happened," said his father Jim Stempa. "It was just carelessness, inattentive driving."
Stempa was flagging traffic when he was struck and killed.
"Accidents can happen so fast, and all you have to do is be inattentive for a few seconds and it could lead to what happened to Derek," said Jim Stempa.
Tom Brown, a heavy equipment operator in Outagamie County who worked with Stempa a few years ago, said his death hit close to home.
"I remember it plain as day," Brown said. "We were sitting down eating supper, and when they announced the name it was very revolting."
Brown and other Outagamie County highway workers gathered Monday to try and send a message to drivers during Work Zone Awareness Week.
"Really, bottom line is it simply comes down to no distractions," said Dean Steingraber, Outagamie County Highway Commissioner.
Which is something Derek Stempa's family wants to emphasize to drivers.
"It's not just some stranger on the side of the road," said Heather Stempa, Derek's wife. "That's somebody's father, that's somebody's son, brother, friend."
Stempa was one of three Wisconsin highway workers who died in work zone accidents last year.
