CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — A father’s love for his family, in the words of his youngest daughter, is how she will hold her memories of him close to her.
Nathaniel McCreary is the construction worker who was struck and killed by a driver early Tuesday morning while he was working on the side of Interstate 75 in Clayton County.
Soon after, the Georgia State Patrol trooper who responded to that crash, Trooper First Class Chase Redner, was also struck and killed by another driver.
Those who knew and loved Redner have been speaking with 11Alive this week about his courage, his heroism, his dedication.
Thursday evening, Nathaniel McCreary’s daughter, Alyssa McCreary, shared her grief.
She asked if she could speak about her father, her friend, at the small neighborhood lake in Clayton County that the two of them would visit together every chance they could to watch the swans and geese and ducks, and sit and talk—father and daughter. She is the youngest of four children.
“He meant everything to me,” said Alyssa, whose name is pronounced A-lee-see-ya. “He was always there for me. No matter what I needed.”
She weeps from the marrow of her bones for her father.
And she weeps for Redner, who rushed to help McCreary, and who was then, himself, struck and killed by a driver.
Alyssa, a sophomore at Alabama A&M, found out about it at school in a phone call.
“And they told me that, my, my dad was hit by a car an hour ago, and he was dead,” she said through her tears as she recalled that moment. “And I needed them to repeat it like three times for me to understand. But my friends were there for me, and they held me. And I'm sorry for (the Trooper’s) family as well. I really am, because I know, I know how it feels to lose somebody, now, that was that close to you. And I'm sorry for them too. And I do thank his family for him coming and trying to help my dad and stuff. And I do pray for them, as well.”
Alyssa wears the necklace with her initial “A” that her father gave her on her 20th birthday.
She shared a video of him, showing how he loved to make her laugh by riding his bicycle backwards, and how he worked out with weights regularly to stay fit at 68.
She spoke of his big heart, for his family and for everyone else.
“He always said 'you never know somebody's situation',” she said. “'So if you can help them, help them.' So whenever we drove past anybody who seemed like they need help or was asking for help, he always gave it to them, no matter anything.”
Her father called her, often, at school just to say hi.
“He’s always the one to make sure he lets you know that he loves you. He’s like, ‘I’m just checking on you.’ He just made me smile, just to hear his voice. He’s really funny. All my friends love him. And they all respect him," she said. "He was my dad. He had family. He had friends. He had many people who respected him. I want people to know that he was more than a construction worker.”
Alyssa said her father was helping her through college, to make it possible for her, along with her jobs, to pay for school; now she’s working to arrange his funeral. She’s asking for donations online.
Alyssa said there is not a doubt in her mind what her father would want, now, for the driver who struck and killed him.
“I want (the driver) to know my dad would have wanted me to make sure that I forgave them, and I, I, I forgive them," she said.
Her funny, strong, wonderful dad, who was loved and respected by so many, who loved to walk along the lake just with her, and just talk-- she just wants everyone to know him, too.