Lieutenant Sean Bradburn with the Hall County Sheriff’s Office said the three-year-old son of the late Lieutenant Brian McNair was a little apprehensive about his gift at first.
"I think he wanted to just kind of rock it and not really get on it," said Bradburn. "But I'm sure that after they got that rocking horse home later that day, they probably were going to be unable to get him off once he finally realized what exactly it does."
Remembering Officer’s Children, or R.O.C.K., presented the little boy with a wooden rocking horse, but not just any ordinary rocking horse.
Shannon Parson, founder of R.O.C.K., builds each rocking horse himself. And he personalizes it to the child and fallen officer.
Embedded in the McNair horse are a badge worn by Bradburn in memory of McNair during the National Police Week ceremony in Washington, D.C. and a challenge coin from the Hall County Sheriff’s Office.
There is also an Army combat medal. McNair was awarded the medal during his service, but Parson used a different one in order to let McNair’s family keep his original. Ironically, Parson unknowingly used a medal with a connection to McNair.
"My brother-in-law found out about it and sent me his combat medal that was on his uniform since about 2006," said Parson. "Then we found out after the fact that when he received that medal, he was actually deployed with Brian's group in Afghanistan during 2005-2006."
Parson also carved a message into the horse sent directly from McNair to his family.
"There is his signature. Well actually, it was a ‘Love, Brian [note]’ that he had written to his wife, she said it was actually one of the last notes written by him," said Parson. "We were able to get a copy of that note and blow it up a little bit and we actually cut his signature, or his name, and the love into the rocker part of the horse."
McNair died following a serious illness in 2020.
R.O.C.K. also presented the boy with a book titled, Forever My Daddy, Always a Hero. Parson said each child who receives a horse is also given a book written by an author from New Jersey, specifically for the children of fallen officers.
Parson builds rocking horses for children 3 years old or younger. He follows the Officer Down Memorial Page, which keeps a record of fallen officers around the United States.
When he sees a new name on the list, Parson contacts the department to see if the officer left behind a child 3 years old or younger.
"What we'll do is, we'll go through the Officer Down Memorial Page and I'll call every department and say, 'Hey, does this officer have a child in this age group?' If they do, then, 'Hey, will you get with the family? Let me talk to the family liaison. Let's figure out if the family wants a horse first,'" said Parson. "If they do, we start getting all the information and build them a horse as custom as they want it."
The McNair horse was the second horse built for the family of a fallen officer with the Hall County Sheriff’s Office. The first horse was built for the son of Deputy Blane Dixon, who was shot and killed in 2019.
Bradburn said Parson contacted him first each time, after Dixon’s passing and then again after McNair’s passing.
"It's just a very humbling experience that nonprofits like this exist," said Bradburn. "[Parson] has that servant's heart, and to reach out to organizations, not only here in Hall County or across Georgia, but just across the whole U.S. that he builds these rocking horses for…it's just an amazing, humbling experience."
To find out more about R.O.C.K., click the link to its website here.
