Nicole Beck looks on as her daughter Katriann Beck, 5, shovels dirt during the groundbreaking of the Alyn Beck Memorial Park, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2018. Officer Beck was killed in the line of duty Sunday, June 8, 2014.
Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2018 | 2 a.m.
Four-and-a-half years later, a widow’s eyes still well with tears when she speaks of her husband, Officer Alyn Beck.
But when shovels dug into a pile of dirt in this far northwest valley lot Tuesday afternoon — kicking up dust toward an applauding crowd — Nicole Beck stood gleeful.
The groundbreaking ceremony of the Alyn Beck Memorial Park, marked a significant step to what in roughly a year will become a megacomplex for play and repose at the Skye Canyon master-planned community.
It also will be a physical memorial for its namesake, who was slain in a June 8, 2014, ambush, alongside his partner, Metro Police Officer Igor Soldo.
Joseph Wilcox, a bystander who tried to stop the killers, also was fatally wounded.
For now, the 10 acres of land off U.S. 95 is just that. Half of it remains desert vegetation, rocks and caliche.
Under a canopy, Nicole Beck was flanked by Las Vegas and Metro officials. Then she took to a microphone.
“My one goal was not to cry,” she said. But she did.
“I’ve had [years] to think of what I would say at something like this, and I still don’t know,” she said.
For one, her husband’s humble nature would likely make him a bit uneasy.
“You guys,” Nicole Beck imagined the fallen officer saying. “I’m just like a normal guy, you really don’t need to name a park after me, I was just doing my job.”
In her speech, she acknowledged Beck’s parents, who live in Wyoming. “I’m so glad that they could be here. They raised an awesome son, and just to know that, yes, his name will never be forgotten in this community, I know it means so much to them, it means so much to me and my community.”
Capt. Sasha Larkin, who’d supervised the slain officers, called the ceremony an “incredible moment.”
“It fills our heart and, truly, for those of us who knew Alyn and Igor — and were there on June 8 — it’s a little bit of closure for us,” Larkin said. “It’s a little bit of closure in our hearts to know” that the promise they’d made to never forget the heroes is being kept.
She deems the park a legacy. Officials anticipate building a second park to name after Officer Soldo.
Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo and Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman also gave warm remarks. Councilwoman Michele Fiore, whose district encompasses the park, gave a tearful speech.
"Thank you for coming,” Nicole Beck said. “I hope you all get to play at this park.”
Soon, two little girls dug up dirt with sticks.
But first, the speakers each grabbed shovels, which were tied with red ceremonial ribbon. And in a coordinated dig, lift and toss, the actions signified that construction had begun.
