Annual memorial walk more than a fundraiser

June 4, 2012

Wayne Carson Reichert, 5, Bourbon, was the youngest actual participant again this year at the 5th annual Indiana Law Enforcement and Firefighter Memorial Walk in Nappanee. Here Reichert, without his training wheels this year is pictured with event organizer Teresa Elliott (the third and fourth rider, respectively, in the event) as she arrives to the halfway station where her husband John waits with chairs for resting, and sugary sweets and water to replenish with.

NAPPANEE — John Elliott was the police chief at the time and friend of the late Butch (Brant) Nine when he was killed in the line of duty in 1988. He and his wife Teresa, the organizer for the 5th annual Indiana Law Enforcement and Firefighter Memorial Walk in Nappanee have been to visit the local memorial in Indianapolis as well as the one in Washington D.C. on several occasions. Upkeep of each name on the local monument is said to cost about $100 annually.
Elliott’s credits his wife as “the motivator” and said that his role with the local walk is to “provide a halfway station” (at Main Street Manor Apartments’ parking lot) with chairs for resting in, and water to replenish the bodies of the walkers and bicycle riders on their four-mile charity trek.
“We’ve also got some rolls to get some sugar into them,” he joked.
More than 25 participants took part in the fundraiser memorial this year on a bright and sunny May 19. But, Elliott explained, the event isn’t just to raise money for the upkeep of the Indiana monument engraved with local police and firefighter’s names who have died while on duty.
“I definitely know the pain of losing a fallen officer and a friend,” he said. “You never forget that. This is, in part, to help keep his memory alive.”