“I’ve always carried this photo,” she said. Then, after discussing it with her daughter, Hlivak reached in her purse, and pulled out a plastic bag with a photo of her smiling husband, holding two toddlers. When they found Apanites’ name on Section 28W, the women each leaned in to do a pencil rubbing of his name on sheets provided for mourners. While waiting for the riders to arrive at the monument, Apanites and Hlivak strolled through the memorial, reading hundreds of tributes left near names etched in the marble in memory of those officers who were slain on the job. Barb Apanites was five days shy of her 1st birthday when her father died. He was shot during a scuffle while waiting for a squad car to transport shoplifting suspects to the police station. Hlivak’s first husband, John Apanites Jr., died April 7, 1969, while working security at a Petries store in downtown Cleveland. Jackie Hlivak of Willowick and her daughter, Barb Apanites of Cleveland Heights, became friends with Rae earlier this year when they learned of his attempts to raise the $1,750 entry fee for the annual ride. And this year, he was met at the finish line by the surviving spouse of a Cleveland police officer who died in the line of duty in 1968. Rae’s group seems to expand every year, with new recruits taking part in the ride. Once there, the riders met up with family, friends and survivors of those who have died in the line of duty to celebrate the accomplishment of riding 300 miles as part of a fundraiser that will help construct a National Law Enforcement Museum. Groups of riders from several different chapters made similar treks from various parts of the country, meeting up about noon Saturday at RFK Stadium in Washington before biking the final two miles to the National Law Enforcement Memorial in Judiciary Square in Washington. On Wednesday, the Mentor resident - who works as an attorney with the United States Postal Inspection Service - joined a group of friends and took off from East Hanover, N.J., on a ride to Washington in honor of fallen police officers in the United States. But how deeply he does is most visible when he straps on his blue Police Unity Tour uniform every May and heads out for a little bike ride. It’s easy to see that Mike Rae is able to motivate people.
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