McKenna Barton was a 2011 graduate of George Rogers Clark High School and a member of Calvary Christian Church.

She participated in Girl Scouts, traveled with the GRC mock trial team, scored distinguished on state tests in writing and more.

“She had everything going for her,” Deanna Barton, McKenna’s mother, told the crowd at the 2019 Rally4Recovery Friday on Main Street. “But the pressures of life took over. She began to question herself… She began socializing with different people… She lost her faith and lost her relationship with the church.”

Deanna said McKenna began to self-medicate to deal with mental and emotional pain. The self-medication became an addiction, reprogramming her brain to such an extent she could not longer control it.

“She wanted to be better for herself,” Deanna said. “But this demon was a formidable adversary that she could not overcome.”

McKenna passed away Aug. 8 in Clark Regional Medical Center just nine days shy of her 26th birthday.

She is survived by her son, Greyson Neil Barton.

She was somebody’s daughter, sister, cousin, friend and her baby’s mother, Deanna said and she is dearly missed.

“Holidays, birthdays, special occasions and day-to-day life is forever different because she is no longer here with us,” Deanna said. “She was only 25 years old.”

Deanna said she couldn’t begin to understand why her daughter left this Earth so early in her life; the loss of a child is difficult, she said, with tears in her eyes.

“There are things that comfort me in my grief: a cool breeze blowing through as we held prayer at her graveside the day of her funeral seemed to be a sign from her saying, ‘It’s OK, mom,’” Deanna said. “Her baby gives us great joy and it’s a part of her that lives on. Memories of her in good times will sustain us. However, she is still not with us.”

Deanna finished telling her daughter’s story and urged people to join Achieving Recovery Together’s (ART) mission of “Just 1 More.”

“Just one more — one more family reuniting, one more person breaking the cycle of addiction,” Deanna said. “ART stands in the gap to impact change in our community. So please join us in our Just 1 More walk to help spread awareness about how this epidemic is ravaging our community and to help spread the message that recovery is possible and we can work together to save lives.”

The Rally4Recovery kicked off Friday with a mile walk, music, free spaghetti dinner and guest speakers. Clark District Judge Cole Adams Maier, Winchester Police Department Capt. James Hall and Mayor Ed Burtner were also among Friday’s speakers. Saturday marked the end of the festivities with more fun and an early morning 5K/10K.

“I get what I very much feel like is the privilege of working with people who are working on themselves every day in the court system,” Maier told the crowd Friday evening. “And I mean that genuinely. It is a privilege. And it is one of the joys of my lifetime to be a district judge and work with some of the friends that I see here today, talking about recovery.”

Maier encouraged the crowd to not talk about what or who is good or bad, but rather talk about each other in terms of kindness and support.

“I would submit to you that there’s not one person who woke up one day and said, ‘I want to make the decision to have a substance abuse disorder. My life was too easy. It was going too smoothly, so I’d like to make it harder…’ That’s not how this works,” Maier said. “So when we’re talking about our friends and family, let’s not talk about good and bad. Let’s talk about how much we love them, how much we care for them, how much we support them. And when it’s appropriate, let’s hold them accountable.”

Maier said the court system and the other organizations supporting recovery in attendance Friday are looking for progress, not perfection.

“For every human, when we wake up every morning, we hope to be a little bit better than we were the day before.” she said. “And every person that chose to come here tonight, celebrating fellowship and community with people who are also encouraging recovery efforts, you made progress today. And I applaud you for that. And I’ll always applaud anybody who’s taken one more step on any given day.”

Everybody who came to the rally Friday night made the right decision, Maier said.

“Being in recovery is genuinely the hardest work on the planet,” she said. “… Each and every person here tonight is a symbol of hope.”