FAYETTEVILLE (KFSM) -- The University of Arkansas Police Department paid tribute to its founder and former director during a ceremony on Thursday (Jan 10).
Surrounded by family, friends and former co-workers of Lawrence "Larry" Slamons, UAPD named its newly renovated conference room in his honor.
Slamons joined the University of Arkansas in 1972, where he took the reigns of the campus security office, before turning it into professional department.
"Larry hired me as a patrolman in 1979," said Brad Bruns, a former police officer for the department. "There's probably not a police leader in the country that had the vision he had, past or present."
Bruns was one of a handful of officers, retired or otherwise, watching the ceremony from the audience.
"This was not easy. It took several people to be involved with this," said said Steve Gahagans, UAPD Director, of the room. "It took financial resources, but I was determined to see it done."
Slamons' wife, Bernadette, and daughter, Anne Minton, both spoke before crowd on their father and husband.
Minton actually had a hand in decorating the conference room with some of her father's prized possessions, including plaques and awards.
"The first time I walked in, I cried. Because it was...," Minton paused. "It was just a special room. It's a special room."
For Bernadette Slamons, the new honor was another example of the life that her husband lived, adding that she still gets letters from people who knew him.
"He impacted their lives in some way and they wrote me, either as students or whatever," Slamons said. "It was neat to get those letters. I still get them every once in awhile."