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🕯️ Two hundred community members gathered to honor 19 fallen law enforcement officers and first responders from Okaloosa and Walton Counties since 1929.
💔 Chrystal Campbell-May delivered an emotional keynote about her husband, Deputy Will May, who was killed in the line of duty in April 2025.
🚨 The solemn ceremony at Northwest Florida State College featured full law enforcement pageantry, personal stories, and a reading of every fallen hero’s name.
Two hundred people gathered at the Law Enforcement Memorial on Northwest Florida State College to remember the 19 men and women who have died in Okaloosa and Walton Counties in the line of duty since 1929 – and to hear from the widow of Deputy Will May – who was killed on April 2, 2025, as he escorted a man out of the Dollar General in Mossy Head.
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The pageantry of men and women in their law enforcement uniforms marked the solemnity of the occasion – the outside world pierced the veil of the ceremony through sound – as the ping of a metal baseball bat or a distant pair of jet engines reminded the supporters of the ceremony of the world outside the alcove set aside for them.
Firefighters ringed the back of the group – and behind them, a huge American flag suspended by metal cable hung off the back of Niceville Fire Department’s ladder truck.
Arrayed in their formal uniforms, the first responders, their families, and friends listened to the stories of each of the men and women who died in the service of Okaloosa and Walton residents.
At the front, Deputy May’s family sat feet away from Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden and Former County Commissioner Graham Fountain as the first deaths were read out.
Okaloosa County and Walton County lost their first law enforcement officers on the same day – August 17, 1929. Sheriff John Monroe Summerlin was killed by an onrushing train when it hit his car and killed four of its five passengers. To the east, on the same day, Deputy Sheriff Thomas G. Blount was shot and killed when he raided an illegal moonshine still.
Chrystal Campbell-May, the widow of Deputy Will May, gave the keynote address at the event.
She spoke about her relationship with Deputy May and how they met at Walton High School in DeFuniak Springs, reconnected, and decided to spend the rest of their lives together. She told the group that they never had enough for what they deemed a perfect wedding, but they always had more than enough love and fun in their family.
“He helped me find a light within myself I could never find,” Campbell-May said, “As my husband, he made my life so much easier and added so much purpose and meaning. He kept me laughing most days.”
Some of the stuff she said was hard to hear – and much more so because she appeared at peace. Campbell-May talked about her tremendous loss with poise and grace. “I can honestly say he has never disappointed me all of these years,” she told the assembled officers, deputies, dignitaries and Okaloosa and Walton Counties residents, “The only time William has ever broken my heart was the day it stopped beating. I know without a doubt that God sent him to me. Unfortunately, he was never just mine. He belonged to God first, and God needed him back. I have to remind myself of that when I get angry about him being taken from me. God allowed us to find each other as a blessing and to show us what real love is, and for that, I can never thank him enough as a father. Will was firm but fair. Loving. Caring. Very passionate about raising the children up into decent adults.”`
Below are the names of all first responders, their agencies, and their death dates (end of watch) from Okaloosa and Walton Counties.
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