Anderson's brother, Jerome, said while Stephen's death seems to have come too soon and many may be struggling to understand why it happened, he said that the family's strong faith will pull them through. He called Stephen's life on Earth just Act 2 of a three-act play, with the LDS belief of an afterlife and that families will be reunited being the third part.

Jerome Anderson said his brother, a "sincere, genuine, upbeat person," proved that one doesn't have to be famous or powerful to have a lifelong effect on people's lives.

"He truly made a difference," he said. "His mortal life was taken. His love can never be taken."

Huntsman expressed condolences to the family on behalf of the state of Utah. He noted that all law-enforcement officers, corrections workers and firefighters know they put their lives on the line every day to serve the public. But Anderson, he said, had the rare ability of successfully balancing force with compassion and treated everyone around him with respect and compassion.

Following the funeral, the hearse carrying Anderson's wood casket drove under an arch created by two ladder trucks from the Unified Fire Authority to the small Bluffdale City Cemetery. There, Anderson was laid to rest with a 21-gun salute, three helicopters flying overhead in the missing man formation and bagpipes playing "Amazing Grace."

Bill Allinson worked with Anderson at Kennecott before they were laid off and eventually went to work at the prison together. Anderson spent the first four years in maximum security before being transferred to transportation for the final 18. Allinson said he and Anderson had talked about retiring together, but Anderson loved his job so much that when the time came, he chose instead to keep working.

Millie Anderson, Stephen's wife, was presented with the folded flag that draped her husband's coffin. Three spent casings from the 21-gun salute were put, as per tradition, inside the folded flag.

After the service was over, members of the prison's transportation unit and members of Adult Probation and Parole placed their white uniform dress gloves and flowers on top of the casket, another law-enforcement tradition.

"He was not a common man," said Corrections Department Director Tom Patterson.

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