Friends, family, colleagues honor fallen Border Patrol agent Nick Ivie

"He actually took the time to get to know my kids' likes and interests inside and out," Stanley said. "We called Nick the neighborhood dad."

Border Patrol Chief Michael Fisher said he and some agents hiked to the site in the mountains were Ivie was killed. He wore his Border Patrol-issue cowboy boots as a tribute to Ivie. The agents explained to him what happened that night.

"I said a prayer for Nick and for the family," Fischer said.

Elder Erich W. Kopischke, of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, served as Christy Ivie's mission president in Germany.

One of the first words missionaries learn is auf wiedersehen, he said. In addition to goodbye, its meaning includes an element of hope. Directly translated, he said, it means "until we see us again."

"This is the expression we want to use for Nick today," he said.

Elder Kopischke also read a letter from the LDS Church's First Presidency to the Ivie family offering heartfelt sympathy and the hope they can be together again for eternity.

At the cemetery near the base of burnt-orange mountains, the Border Patrol honored Ivie with a 21-gun salute and the playing of taps. Helicopters flew over in missing man formation.

On one knee, Fischer presented Christy Ivie with the flag from the casket and told her her husband served with pride and distinction.

"I know that is not fair compensation for that which you have lost," he told her during the funeral. "For that, I am truly sorry."

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