By Barbara Hoberock
Tulsa World
OKLAHOMA CITY — Jeffrey Matthew McCoy was 32 years old with a wife and two young children when he was shot and killed on May 18, 2012, while doing a field visit as a probation and parole officer.
On Friday, he and 19 other Department of Corrections employees who made the ultimate sacrifice will be remembered and honored at the dedication of the Oklahoma Correctional Memorial on the grounds of the agency’s administration building in Oklahoma City.
McCoy came from a family of correctional employees. His grandfather, Bill Benge, is a retired correctional officer. His father, Patrick McCoy, is a retired DOC educator. His mother, Genese McCoy, is the DOC medical service administrator.
“It is bittersweet,” Genese McCoy said. “We are very honored that he will be memorialized with the agency forever. It is an honor you never want to have as a parent.”
Jeffrey McCoy had been with the agency for seven years when he was killed on a visit at a Midwest City home. He left behind his wife, Megan, and children Alex, 8, and Allie, 5, said his mother. His killer, Lester Kinchion Jr., is serving life without parole.
“He was wonderful,” Genese McCoy said of her son. “He was faithful, loyal and very dedicated. He was very committed to his family, his church and his job.”
A redbud tree is at the entrance of the memorial, which includes a reflecting pool and a granite monument with 20 names.
The Oklahoma Correctional Employee Memorial Foundation and outgoing Department of Corrections Director Justin Jones worked to make the memorial a reality.
About $50,000 has been raised for the project, said Greg Sawyer, project director and the DOC chief of business operations.
“It is a way for the correctional family to never forget those that gave the ultimate sacrifice,” Jones said. “It is a way for the families that gave the ultimate sacrifice to understand that we will never forget.”
Jones said the memorial is a reminder to the public and politicians that providing public safety can be a deadly business.
“These public servants dedicated and gave their lives for the citizens of Oklahoma,” Jones said.
The first name on the monument is that of Oklahoma State Penitentiary Deputy Warden D.C. “Pat” Oates, who died Jan. 19, 1914, during a prisoner escape attempt.
Also among the names on the memorial is Gay Carter.
Carter was a correctional food supervisor at the Dick Conner Correctional Center when on Nov. 13, 1998, she was stabbed to death by an inmate.