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The Greene County Sheriff’s Department and several State Representatives renamed a local highway on Monday in memory of a deputy who was killed in the line of duty. KSMU’s Kristian Kriner reports.
Under a cloudy sky, friends and family gathered at the corner of State Highway WW and Farm Road 145 to remember Deputy Gary McCormack.
McCormack was killed in a car accident at that intersection a year ago while responding to a call.
The Sheriff’s Department and State Representative Shane Schoeller dedicated the stretch of road between State Highway 13 and State Highway H, renaming it the Gary D. McCormack Memorial Highway.
Greene County Sheriff Jack Merritt said the clouds and the gloomy weather were fitting for the memorial service.
“This family has suffered the supreme sacrifice to lose a loved one. We lost a loved one within our agency and it is a very special day that we can acknowledge this for something that is forever in perpetuity,” Merritt said.
Representative Shane Schoeller presented McCormack’s wife and children with several resolutions in memory of McCormack’s service to the City of Springfield.
Schoeller says it’s great to see all the different types of law enforcement officers coming together to remember one dedicated officer.
“Every day that they go out into the line of duty, you know that there is that potential for danger that’s greater than most of us. And so I’m just glad that we can honor each of them, you know, through this naming of Gary and a Highway after him today,” Schoeller said.
Signs are already in place marking the Gary D. McCormack Memorial Highway.
Representatives Bob Dixon and Charlie Norr were also at the memorial service.
For KSMU News, I’m Kristian Kriner.