It’s amazing how quickly time goes by. Unfortunately, pain does not.

It really can’t be six years ago that we said goodbye to Upper Darby Officer Dennis McNamara.

It was Jan. 30, 2002. A cold, rainy night. It was about to get a lot worse.

McNamara was making a routine check on a suspicious car on Perry Avenue. He was shot once in the head by a man who came out of a nearby house. I won’t even mention his name here. This isn’t about him. It’s about McNamara. And those left behind.

They gathered yesterday at Cardington-Stonehurst Fire Co. to unveil a plaque to the first Upper Darby police officer killed in the line of duty.

McNamara left behind a wife and two children.

I have exchanged occasional e-mails with Diane McNamara in the days and years since. I have always been amazed at how resilient and upbeat she has remained, despite the horrific circumstances she found herself in.

She was there again yesterday, joking that she expected showers, just as it rained the night her husband was so violently taken from her.

Many of us will think of McNamara for a while today, or on the anniversary of his death, or when another incident involving a policeman takes place.

Diane McNamara doesn’t have that luxury. She lives with what happened every day.

Rest well, Officer McNamara. Your sacrifice is being remembered. By those who loved you. By those who served with you. And by some you never met.