Co-workers aim to keep friend's memory alive

Rainbow Club Casino bake sale to benefit daughter of murder victim

Dawn McCoy said the most important thing to her late husband was their daughter's education.

"He made the comment to many people that he would work until the day he died to make sure she went to a Lutheran school," McCoy said.

When John McCoy was murdered in a random drive-by shooting on Jan. 31, 2005, his daughter Marissa was only in fourth grade. McCoy said that although her church and others have donated to Marissa's Education Fund, there still is a fear that she will have to take Marissa out of Christian school.

"It looks like she's OK for the next two years, but after that, I don't know," McCoy said.

The employees of the Rainbow Club Casino in downtown Henderson, where John McCoy worked for seven years before he was killed, will raise money for the education fund at their second annual bake sale.

"I'm very grateful and touched that they still remember John and how he felt about (Marissa's) education," McCoy said.

A classical guitar and a casino slot machine were raffled off almost immediately after John McCoy's murder to raise money for the education fund, and the employees held a bake sale last fall to contribute.

The employees came up with a bake sale because it's a way that everyone can contribute, said John Awalt, assistant general manager at the Rainbow Club Casino.

"Employees and guests bring in baked goods," Awalt said. "There's a lot of participation."

The bake sale will be held at 7 a.m. Saturday at the Rainbow Club Casino, 122 S. Water St.

Last year, about $1,000 was raised at the sale, which went late into the night. Employees are hoping for more this year. Everyone is invited to drop off homemade or store-bought baked goods or come to the casino to buy the bakery items.

Awalt said the casino holds the bake sale during the fall because it's the holiday season and "It's a time to think of friends and loved ones."

Debbie Hawes, the Rainbow's executive secretary, said employees and guests at the casino haven't forgotten John McCoy and want his family to know that.

"He was just a great person. A great person to be around and a great person to work with," Hawes said.

"He was the most devoted family man I knew," Awalt said. "And Marissa was his life."

McCoy began working two jobs after her husband's death and wants to keep Marissa's life as normal as possible.

"My brother and I came home that morning, and we told her we couldn't let what happened make us bitter. We have to live out lives and make Daddy proud. And that's what we do."

Marissa, who is now a seventh-grader at Faith Lutheran Junior/Senior High School, was valedictorian of her sixth-grade class. She plays volleyball and piano and wants to try out for the basketball team.

There were two men involved in the shooting, which took place in North Las Vegas. The men drove by and shot John McCoy as he was driving home from work. The shooter, Jamar Green, 22, took a plea deal and was sentenced on July 11 to 34 years to life in prison.

"When the (district attorney) told me 34 years to life with no appeals, I agreed to it," McCoy said. "About 30 minutes after that, I cried. I felt like he wasn't getting enough time. I felt like I was letting John down. But everyone told me he wouldn't want me to have to go through a trial."

The driver, Terrence Bowser, 22, turned down his plea deal of 28 years to life in prison. His trial ended in October, and the jury found him guilty of first-degree murder with use of a deadly weapon. He will be sentenced on Dec. 5 and could receive 40 years to life in prison.

John McCoy also had two other children, a daughter, 36, and a son, 40, from a previous relationship.