A memorial service was held in Utica to pay tribute to Oneida County Sheriff's Deputy Kurt Wyman, 24, who was shot and killed a week ago during a standoff at a home in Knoxboro. YNN's Bill Carey has more on the services at the Utica Auditorium.

  To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

UTICA, N.Y. -- Funerals are a time for family. In the case of this memorial, many families. There were those who watched Kurt Wyman grow to manhood.

A mother who paid tribute in song.

A young son who someday may understand the meaning behind a medal he was entrusted with.

A father, who in two sentences, spoke volumes.

"Kurt was a good boy. Gonna miss him," said Brian Wyman.

There was a family of faith. Those who knew Kurt Wyman and his wife, Lauren, from their work at Crosspoint Church.

"Kurt was one of my closest friends. Tuesday morning, ever since then, there's a Kurt-sized hole in my life," Bobby Allen said.

This family was here to remind others of the role faith played in Kurt Wyman's life.

"There's this line in the movie, 'Braveheart.' 'Every man dies, but not every man lives.' I can say with confidence that, although Kurt is dead, he also really lived because he found forgiveness and the promise of eternal life in his relationship with Jesus Christ," Kyle Kaurin of Twin Orchards Baptist Church said.

There were other families as well. Men and women who shared the job of patrolling the streets and roadways to combat crime.

"Kurt Wyman was everything you might hope out of a 24-year-old man. He was everything you would hope your son would become. Or that your daughter would find in a husband," Oneida County Sheriff Robert Maciol said.

And yet another family, fellow United States Marines who had served with Wyman in Iraq.

"He was our friend, our brother. A true hero to all. And a great American. Semper Fidelis, Sgt. Kurt Wyman," said Sgt. Major Dennis Yaeger.

It was left to Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente to reach beyond the walls of the auditorium to speak to yet another group. The rest of us, about the lessons taught by Kurt Wyman's life and death.

"It is up to us to work each and every day to stop the needless hatred and violence that occurs in our everyday lives. Please tell the next deputy, or police officer, or trooper or soldier that you see 'thank you.'" said Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente.

Deputy Wyman, a veteran of service in Iraq, is due to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

  To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

play slideshow

 

| |

 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•