BILL KILIAN 1966 - 1976 STATION AGENT DEN Bill was a station agent in DEN who was killed by a blast from a pistol in a duffle bag in the bagroom in 1976. After his death and much effort by many people, federal legislation was passed regulating the carriage of firearms in airline luggage. Bill was posthumously awarded the Air Line Employees Association's Award of Merit, his union's highest award. -Jake Lamkins (6/10/99) Hi Frank, Thanks for the $10 donation. I've almost got enough for the second issue without cutting back on the mailing list. I want to feature someone each issue from the obituary list like I did Ken Coggeshall. I was thinking of Bill Kilian for the next issue but I can't find much info on him. Do you have anything in your records that might help me feature him such as a photo, background info, etc.? Thanks again for your help, -Jake Lamkins (10/28/00) Let me look, I had a picture of Rep Schorder and the DEN reps. and they presented Bill's boy a pen from President Carter when he signed it (Gun Bill for checked luggage) into law. -Frank Monheiser (10/29/00) Last night I looked and the only info I have on Bill Killian is the article from ALEA and a picture of Latino, Meade, Simpson, Gary Hart, Pat Schroder and Bill's son and if you want I can send it to in the mail. The article is the Airline Employee's protection act of 1980. -Frank Monheiser (10/30/00) Hey Frank, I have the article with Bill's son. I was hoping to find a pic of Bill. I did finally find Bill listed at the Social Security Death Index as Stephen. The attached news article from 1976 called him Stephen. Do you recall what year ALEA gave him the Award Of Merit? -Jake Lamkins (10/30/00) It was at the convention in 76 I believe, Ora would probably still have all his notes, sorry. -Frank Monheiser (10/31/00) According to the Social Security Death Index, STEPHEN KILIAN Born 10 Feb 1945 Died Nov 1976 Age 31 SSN issued in Colorado Bill & Stephen Kilian are the same. -Jake Lamkins (10/30/00) I found an article on Bill in the Jan/Feb 1977 FL NEWS. He was transferring luggage on Wednesday, Nov 24, 1976, when a .357 magnum revolver inside a duffel bag discharged. More info in the article which is posted on his webpage. -Jake Lamkins (8/24/04) Frank Monheiser sent the 1977 ALEA magazine excerpts about Bill. -Jake Lamkins (4/22/05) I was reading the Spring 2007 issue of the Frontier News and came upon the "Youngest Obituary List". Going down the roster, I saw the name of Bill Kilian who died in 1976. I remember that incident because Tom called me that night to tell me what happened. When Tom contacted me that evening, he was in a state of shock. He had been working the same flight as Bill. I can't recall if he was also near the carts or in the cargo pit, but he was within feet of Bill. With just a tiny tweak of Fate, that could have been Tom that took the hit, and we always thanked our lucky stars that it wasn't his time. I later asked Tom if any kind of criminal charges had been filed against the fool who had packed a loaded revolver in his luggage. Tom wasn't sure, but didn't think there was much they could do except haul him off the plane and interrogate him. We never heard anything further or perhaps don't remember it. Maybe you do. Of course now there is much more restriction on what can go in luggage but I'm still amazed at the piles of dangerous items regularly confiscated from check-in baggage. People just don't get it. -Yvonne Harding (5/2/07) It was our union, ALEA, that pushed hard for the law against loaded weapons in luggage. It was finally passed in 1980. As I recall, the fellow who had the gun in the luggage that killed Bill was an heir to the Maytag fortune. That's ironic since Bud Maytag owned FL before he bought National. I don't think there was a law to prosecute him and I don't know if Bill's widow filed a civil lawsuit. -Jake Lamkins (5/2/07) S W KILIAN Station agent seniority date of 5/6/66, emp# 04926, on the 1/1/74 FL/ALEA seniority list. Name Stephen William and called Bill. -Jake Lamkins (1/15/09) Posted at FLacebook Del Zimmerman I still have dreams now and then of working on concourse "D". Can't help but remember when Bill Killian was killed in the bag room with a loaded gun in a bag. Ron Abfalter A day of great sadness and sorrow for sure. (8/2/12)