Every March 4, friends, family and police officers gather at the corner of Chelsea and Atlantic avenues in Atlantic City to remember Officer Thomas McMeekin Jr.
The five-year Atlantic City Police Department veteran was just 28 years old when he was struck at that corner, directing traffic from an accident scene March 3, 2005.
McMeekin died from his injuries the next day.
He left behind a wife and 2-year-old daughter, Adria.
"It’ll always be ‘the day,’" Jennifer Miller McMeekin wrote on Facebook to mark the 20th anniversary of her husband's death. "The day you gave your life, and the day I had to relearn how to live mine."
She joined the others remembering her husband at a ceremony noon Tuesday on the corner where he was struck, which now bears his name.
As they do every year, the group then gathered at the Irish Pub to raise a glass in his honor, and share the memories that Miller McMeekin makes sure don't fade, especially for their now-grown daughter.
"All are welcome to join us," Miller McMeekin wrote. "And thank you to everyone who comes out each year to show Adria what an incredible man her father was."
McMeekin came from a public service family that includes a father and brother who both served as city firefighters and his uncle, former Police Chief John Mooney.
"I feel your loss. Every day. We all do," Miller McMeekin wrote. "But I am so grateful I get to remember your life. I am grateful to everyone who shares your life with me. Whether they knew you personally, or just your story."
She also offered a tribute to the couple's daughter.
"I’m so proud of her," she wrote. "So incredibly proud. I know you are too. I wish you could see it in person."
