CHICAGO — The widow of slain police officer Thor Soderberg is asking neighbors to celebrate his memory with random acts of kindness Thursday.
Soderberg was shot and killed in the parking lot of an Englewood police station as he left work July 7, 2010, according to DNAinfo Chicago. The man convicted of killing him was sentenced to life in prison.
Jennifer Loudon, Soderberg’s widow, has made it a tradition to remember her husband by “focusing on how he lived and the good he gave to this world,” she said in a news release. She’s dubbed July 7 Pay It Forward Day and had asked Chicagoans to commit acts of kindness in her husband’s memory.
Soderberg was empathetic and generous in ways he never made a fuss about, Loudon said. He made extra sandwiches and took gloves to those living on Lower Wacker Drive; the day before he died, Soderberg paid the police station’s shoeshiner an extra $20 so he had enough to eat that night, Loudon said.
During past Pay It Forward days, people bought coffee for others, passed out ice cream to kids on their block and donated to charities in Soderberg’s name, Loudon said. Her brother brings breakfast and a thank-you note to the local precinct every year, she said.
Random act of kindness can be documented with an email to payitforward@rememberingthor.com. They will appear on Soderberg’s memorial page.
Loudon said people are encouraged to tell gift-receivers about Soderberg.
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