Tribute amid tears — Thousands attend funeral of slain corrections officer

BLUFFDALE — Thousands of friends, family members, co-workers and fellow law-enforcement officers paid their final respects Friday to a man remembered as a loving husband, devoted father and a man of God who led by example with his kind heart and generosity.

Stephen Anderson, 60, was laid to rest with a massive outpouring of support. The 1,800-seat-capacity chapel and overflow area in the Bluffdale LDS Stake Center, 14400 S. 2742 West, where funeral services were held, was already near capacity an hour before the funeral began. Chairs were put on a stage behind the overflow area, and video was fed into four overflow rooms to accommodate the large crowd.

Police chiefs and sheriffs from across the state sat in the front of the stage along with Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and his wife, Mary Kaye, to pay tribute.

Anderson, a Utah state corrections officer, was shot and killed Monday during an escape attempt. Inmate Curtis Allgier, who had just completed an MRI at the University Orthopaedic Center, has been accused of the crime. Allgier was charged Thursday with aggravated murder. Prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty.

At Friday's funeral, the stake center's neighborhood seemed to double in population as police squad cars, motorcycles, ambulances and other emergency vehicles from just about every law-enforcement organization in Utah lined the streets for more than a mile.

Between 2,000 to 3,000 people were estimated to have attended the service from Utah, the rest of the nation and even Canada.

John Bray was part of a four-member honor guard from the Rhode Island Department of Corrections that attended Friday's service.

"We feel we need to be here," he said.

Bray said because corrections officers are the ones who work behind bars, they are sometimes the forgotten ones. The Rhode Island Brotherhood of Correctional Officers wanted to make sure Anderson wasn't forgotten, he said.

On a table outside the chapel, pictures of Anderson, many in wood frames he made, were displayed. Many of the photos showed him and his love for the outdoors, either on ATVs, rafting with grandchildren or using his bulldozer to clear new campsites and trails for his family.

In front of the photos was a sign, "I believe in superheroes."

On another table were Anderson's badges, awards, a plaque presented to Anderson's family following his death, and a Boy Scout handbook. Family members say being a Scoutmaster was his favorite church calling.

Anderson's four daughters, his son, Shawn, his brother, Jerome, and sister, Angie, all shared similar stores during the service of Anderson's generous personality.