CARY, N.C. – Family, friends and Cary city leaders gathered Sunday to memorialize Nancy Cooper.

The mother of two was found murdered about three miles from her home in July.

Family and friends dedicated a stone park bench on Symphony Lake Trail to Cooper, an avid runner.

“Today is the day of renewal, it's a day of turning to something positive, it's a day of perpetual memory of Nancy through this beautiful bench and this wonderful location,” Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht said.

Jill Dean, Nancy’s sister-in-law, said the bench was a fitting tribute.

“Nancy was a wonderful friend, a fantastic person and a dictionary definition of a mother," Dean said. "She gave all of herself to those she loved and I often feel as though we could not give enough back to her.”

With the loss of her daughter, Donna Rentz has made the decision not to return to work. Instead, she says, she wants to take the time to treasure the moments she has with her family.

“What I have learned, our time on this earth can be brief, and I want all of you to go home and hug those that you love and keep them close,” Rentz said.

The words "you are my sunshine," one of Nancy Cooper's favorite songs to sing to her daughters, are inscribed on the bench.

“It's a real pleasure for us to be able to leave something back, she would have loved to have seen and to have you enjoy,” Garry Rentz, Nancy’s father, said.

No arrests have been made and no suspects have been named in the Nancy Cooper case. Nancy's family is fighting a custody battle with her husband Brad Cooper over their two daughters.