In the midst of taking down everything said at a deposition or some other legal hearing and preparing transcripts, court reporters tend to blend into the background.

When a court reporter does stand out, one hopes that it would be in the way Barbara Kilgus distinguished herself.

Kilgus, a Bowling Green resident and longtime operator of Kilgus Court Reporting and Video, was honored by the state by being enshrined in the Kentucky Workers’ Compensation Hall of Fame.

Created in 2019 by the Kentucky Department of Workers’ Claims, the hall of fame honors those who have made significant contributions to the state workers’ compensation system during their careers.

“This is kind of like your Oscar if you were a movie star,” Kilgus said.

Kilgus, who sold her business and retired in 2019 after 53 years, was part of the 2020 class of inductees.

The COVID-19 pandemic, however, delayed the formal ceremony honoring Kilgus and her fellow 2020 inductees until last month, at an event in Lexington.

Kilgus became a full-time freelance court reporter in 1966 after having been a legal secretary, taking her first job for the state Department of Labor on Halloween that year.

Her main responsibility as a court reporter in the beginning was to take down everything said at workers’ compensation hearings and prepare transcripts that would be used to help ruling bodies reach a decision on workers’ comp claims.

Kilgus also recorded and transcribed depositions and other legal hearings as part of a career that saw her criss-cross a broad swath of western Kentucky.

“I met so many attorneys and administrative law judges from all over the state, it was very enjoyable work and the people were so nice,” Kilgus said.

Where many court reporters used a stenotype machine to take down proceedings, Kilgus was what’s known in the industry as a “pen writer,” a court reporter who takes down proceedings using handwritten shorthand.

In addition to providing court reporting services to attorneys, Kilgus served as the reporter for the state Department of Workers’ Claims hearings in Bowling Green and Owensboro as the state system adapted to hold workers’ comp hearings at regional hearing sites rather than the county where the claim originated.

J. Landon Overfield, a Henderson-based attorney and retired chief administrative law judge of the state Department of Workers’ Claims, nominated Kilgus for the 2020 hall of fame class.

Overfield, a 2019 hall of fame inductee, lauded Kilgus for her professionalism and her personality.

“Her work was just immaculate,” Overfield said. “She was, not probably, she was the finest court reporter I ever worked with in 50-some years in the business. On top of that, her disposition was such that she made everybody in the proceeding feel comfortable.”

The 39 inductees in the hall of fame consist largely of administrative law judges and attorneys who made this sliver of law their livelihood. Kilgus is one of only three court reporters inducted.

In workers’ comp hearings where arcane medical terminology commonly makes its way into transcripts, a court reporter who can keep up with what’s happening without pausing a hearing to ask for the meaning or spelling of a term is highly valued.

“Court reporters are much like basketball referees,” Overfield said. “If one is really good and doing the job properly, you don’t even notice them. It’s only the referees with bad calls you tend to notice. You didn’t notice (Kilgus) until the breaks in a hearing and then that bubbly personality came through.”