‘He’s smiling down;’ Portion of U.S. 40 in Clark County dedicated to Deputy Matthew Yates

CLARK COUNTY — Officials and the Clark County community gathered Tuesday to again pay tribute to fallen Clark County Deputy Matthew Yates.

This afternoon, officials officially unveiled a stretch of U.S. 40 in Clark County as “Sheriff Deputy Matthew Yates Memorial Highway.”

>> PHOTOS: Deputy Matthew Yates Memorial Highway dedication

News Center 7′s John Bedell spoke exclusively with Yates’ family at the unveiling, nearly a year after he was shot and killed in the line of duty.

“You never know what emotion you’re going to wake up with that morning, but to see Matt honored this way is just amazing to me,” Tracy Yates, Matthew’s widow, said. “I know that he’s smiling down, so that makes me feel happy that we’re honoring him as well.”

Both Yates’ mother and father told News Center 7 that they speak to their son every day.

“I know he stills hears me and I hear him,” Eugene Yates, Matthew’s father, said.

His mother, Lisa Yates, said the dedication was another way to know how many lives her son touched.

>> RELATED: ‘You will not be forgotten;’ Clark Co. Deputy Matthew Yates honored in state memorial ceremony

“This lets me know, still, actually how many people love him,” she said.

Nearly 12 months haven’t eased the pain of his loss for his family.

“When a mother loses their child, there’s nothing that can be done or said in that. It’s a daily pain,” Lisa Yates said.

Tracy said the process to get the dedication took about nine months in the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus.

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Deputy Matthew yates Memorial Highway Dedication

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