Master Deputy J. Alex Burdette

Hi Dad,
It hasn’t been easy growing up without you, but I’d like to think that you’d be proud of the woman I’ve become. I have never and will never stop missing you. I know that you would be here if you could have been. A lot has happened in the eighteen years that you’ve been gone. I’ve grown up and I just wish that you had been able to see it. I hope that you’re proud of me, of the things that I have done and accomplished. I wore your cap and gown to my graduation. I wanted you to be there. You might not have been allowed the opportunity to physically be in my life, but you were there in every choice that I made. I go to Clemson now, and I know that you would have loved that. I’ve decided to be a teacher. I’ve also been giving back to the organization that gave so much to me. COPS helped me navigate how to live my life without you in it. And while I wish that there was no need for such an organization to exist, there always will be and I want to be there for those other little girls and boys. I still talk to you when I’ve had a rough day. It helps me feel closer to you. A lot of big events are going to be coming up in my life in the next few years. And I know that you’ll be there with me.

Until we meet again,

Karlee Burdette
Daughter of Alex Burdette

November 30, 2023