Country music is echoing through a Thousand Oaks park where hundreds of people have gathered. There are smiles and laughter, and also sadness and tears in Kingsmen Park at California Lutheran University. It’s an event to remember Justin Meek, a Cal Lutheran graduate who was one of the 12 people who died as a result of last November’s Borderline Bar and Grill attack.
Laura Lynn Meek is Justin’s mother. She says he was involved in everything from sports to singing groups on campus. It inspired her to go back to school, and in 2018, they marched in graduation ceremonies together.
Meek used to like to spend some of his spare time here in the park, which is a huge grassy area dotted with trees at the center of the Cal Lutheran campus. So, to honor him, on a little hill overlooking the park where he used to hang up his hammock between trees, a bench has been added that’s dedicated to him.
While it’s been six months since the tragic attack, it still weighs on the college campus. In addition to the loss of Meek, a number of Cal Lutheran students were at the Thousand Oaks club the night of the attack.
Meek was known for helping, and caring about others. He’s going to go on doing that, through a Cal Lutheran scholarship named after him. He was a Criminal Justice major, and a scholarship has been created by the university for students in that field in his honor.
