NICHOLASVILLE, Ky. (WKYT) -It’s been 10 years since a tragic crash claimed the life of a Nicholasville Police Officer.

Officer Burke Rhoads died on March 11, 2015, after a crash in Garrard County.

Anniversaries are days people commemorate. But March 11th is a reminder of a tragic event for a family and a group of first responders in Nicholasville. But on the 10th anniversary, there was more evidence of joy than sorrow.

“Celebration of life of this department. Celebration of his legacy,” said Melissa Mason, Officer Rhoads’ wife.

Rhoads and his family moved to Kentucky to mark a halfway point between his and his wife’s families —in New York and Iowa. He served in the military and then law enforcement and was tragically killed while traveling to training in Richmond.

“To have it happen to someone that is so close to you, and again someone who was just such a good guy. Out there doing his job every day,” said Officer Sam Wade, the Nicholasville Police Public Information Officer.

Officer Rhoads was heavy into physical fitness—in fact, he wanted to transition to training officers. But in a way that will still take place. There is a new room in the police department named in Officer Burke Rhoads’s memory.

Rhoads’ family was on hand for both the ceremony and to see the fitness room named in his honor and memory.

“Absolutely amazing. It was wonderful to see the kids and their expressions. To see them in the fitness center knowing that was their dad, his legacy left for them,” said Mason.

Other officers say Rhoads life lives on in how he was like a compass, a perfect north, showing how things needed to be done.

“One of the interesting things about Officer Burke was he was very by the book, he always wanted to do the right thing,” said Officer Wade.

A reminder other officers will see every time they work out and prepare for their next shift.

The memorial outside the Nicholasville Police Department has two names, Rhoads and Officer William Ketron, who died in 1941.

Copyright 2025 WKYT. All rights reserved.