Meadow Walker Shares Smiling Photo of Dad Paul Walker: ‘My Best Friend Forever’

Meadow Walker is remembering late father Paul Walker as her “best friend forever” more than six years after his death at 40 in a tragic car accident. The actor’s daughter, now 21, took to Instagram Thursday to share a throwback photo of her dad showing off his goofy side, pinning his sandy blonde locks back with a number of children’s barrettes.

“[This] kind of sunshine is hard to find, my best friend forever,” she captioned the photo, which quickly racked up appreciative comments from fans and followers. “That couldn’t be better said!” one person wrote. “And your dad was and still is with everything he did that and the legacy of good thing people he left behind! I’ve been a big fan of your dad and always will be!” Another called Meadow “the sweetest” for sharing, while a different person gushed, “I love Paul more than most things in this world. He was above us all.”

Walker was killed in an explosive car accident on Nov. 30, 2013 alongside friend and driver, Roger Rodas. In 2018 Meadow and Rodas’ widow, Kristine, settled separate lawsuits with Porsche, the manufacturer of the car they were driving, with Kristine claiming faulty mechanics were to blame for the crash. Meadow said in her suit that she believed her father survived the initial collision but burned alive after being trapped by his seatbelt. The late actor’s father reached a similar settlement with the company.

In 2018, Walker’s mother, Cheryl, opened up to PEOPLE about her interaction with her son on the morning of the day of his death, when he was planning on picking out a Christmas tree later that day with Meadow, then 15. “We were having this good conversation, and he’d forgotten about an event he had. He got a text and said, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m supposed to be somewhere!’” she recalled.

Walker did make it to the charity car show he was reminded to attend for his organization, Reach Out Worldwide, but was killed leaving the event, when he decided to catch a ride with Rodas in the Carrera GT Porsche. “I think so many people think, ‘Oh, he was just a movie star who was killed in a car accident,’” Cheryl continued. “But there was so much more to him. That was just a piece of who he was. He was an amazing man.”

Each year, the family gathers together on Sept. 12, Walker’s birthday, honoring their lost loved one at one of his favorite surfing spots at Huntington Beach. Cheryl said. “I’ve gotten letters from people all over the world who said he made a difference in their lives,” Cheryl said. “That is such a blessing. He’s never forgotten.”