Edwin Giltner Salyers

Edwin Giltner Salyers   Edwin Giltner Salyers passed away on November 2, 2013 as a result of complications from congestive heart failure.  He was born on June 23, 1929 in Cumberland Gap, TN, the youngest of 3 children of Frank Giltner Salyers and Marie Eue Salyers.  He grew up in Middlesboro, KY, earned his bachelor’s degree from Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, TN and his law degree from George Washington University.  As a student, he helped pay for his education as a cave guide and an encyclopedia salesman.  While in college, he met Marie Bayruns whom he would later marry in 1954. After joining the Navy, Edwin was commissioned as an officer in the Naval Supply Corps and he and Marie were stationed in Athens, GA and then Trinidad.  After his discharge from the Navy, he joined the US Department of Labor as a trial attorney and practiced in Birmingham and Atlanta.  While with the Labor Department, he tried many cases seeking justice for working people, including landmark cases involving wage and hour and discrimination disputes.  After 17 years with the Labor Department, he was appointed an administrative law judge, first for the Social Security Administration and then for the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission where he continued his passion of ensuring that workers were treated fairly.  He retired in 1993 after more than 40 years of federal service.  Edwin is survived by his wife and four children, Doug married to Beth Moss Salyers and David married to Lynn Spencer Salyers (all of Atlanta), Tom married to Katy Roche (Takoma Park, MD), and Beth (Cary, NC), along with 7 grandchildren.  He is also survived by his sister Marge Shearer (South Royalton, VT). He was a loving husband and devoted father who coached Little League and always put his family first.  Friends and family remember him for his keen sense of humor, talent as a poet, humility, dedication to others, public service, commitment to what was right, and skill as a trial lawyer and judge.  The family will receive friends on Tuesday, November 5 from 6-8 pm at H.M. Patterson & Son Oglethorpe Hill, 4550 Peachtree Rd., Atlanta GA.  A service of celebration will be held on Wednesday, November 6 at 11:30 am at St. James United Methodist Church, 4400 Peachtree Dunwoody Rd., Atlanta GA. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions be made to either the American Heart Association or Eagle Ranch.