INDIANAPOLIS -- It’s been three years since Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Officer Rod Bradway was shot and killed in the line of duty.
Officer Bradway was responding to a domestic disturbance at the Eagle Point apartments near West 46th and I-465 when he was ambushed. The gunman was also shot and killed.
Bradway was honored on Tuesday at the annual Fraternal Order of Police Memorial Service at the Capitol.
His parents, who live in northern Indiana, also attended the memorial. They say they will never forget that night.
But out of tragedy comes hope, and a new life’s mission, sewn out of their son’s death. It started as a hobby and a passion for his mother Sheri Bradway, combined to become a purpose.
“We didn’t want to focus on what we’d lost – what we try to remember and move forward and go from there, and how we can honor Rod and also his brothers and sisters in uniform.”
That way to honor has come in the form of quilts – made now by Sheri and other volunteers. The quilts are for mothers nationwide who have lost a son or daughter in the line of duty.
Officer Bradway’s father, Tom, says it’s been good for his wife, “Her feelings and the other mothers’ feelings, you can tell, are together. They meet at a point that I couldn’t have imagined.”
A mission in their son’s name, Sheri says is made possible through god, “My faith in him keeps me going and I think he directed me this way. He always tells us we need to listen, so I’m sure this is where he’s lead us – this is what we need to do.”
A quilt featuring the names of Indiana’s fallen officers over the past 25 years will be auctioned off next month, to help Sheri and Tom’s ongoing mission, "A Quilt for Mother's Tears."
The Bradways will host A Quilt for Mother’s Tears auction featuring that memory quilt on October 1 at the Pike Performing Arts center.
Doors will open at noon and the auction will begin at 1 p.m.
