Published: June 23, 2007 09:41 pm      

Thousands pay respects to Floyd County Sheriff's Deputy Frank Denzinger

Officer given final farewell

GALENA — A reverent hush fell over a crowd of law enforcement officials lining a hallway leading to the gymnasium at Floyd Central High School Saturday morning as the casket of one of their own was brought in through double doors in front of the school.

The uniformed officers — who came from Kentucky and as far away as South Bend — slowly saluted when the flag-draped casket passed by walls covered with framed photographs, plaques and trophies celebrating the Highlanders’ successes in athletics.

Fourteen years ago, Frank C. Denzinger walked the same hallway as a high school senior with a bright future ahead of him serving and protecting the public.

The 32-year-old Floyd County Sheriff’s deputy died while on duty Monday when he was gunned down by a 15-year-old who just weeks ago was finishing his freshman year at Floyd Central.

Denzinger and his partner, 27-year-old Joel White, were shot from a second-story window in Edwardsville as they talked to the mother of Tyler Dumstorf, the teenage gunman who later died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. White has been hospitalized since the incident.

More than 1,200 people — nearly half of whom were in uniform — came to pay their respects to the slain officer at the public memorial service.

Church hymns were played on a grand piano as family, friends and law enforcement officers filed into the gymnasium, passing the casket on their way to their seats.

A memorial was set up near the casket with Denzinger’s portrait, brown uniform top and hat flanked by a white flower cross and yellow flowers arranged in the shape of a sheriff’s badge.

“Much has been written and reported about Frank in the past week and it’s all true,” said Michael Rowe, a brother-in-law.

Rowe recalled meeting Denzinger for the first time 16 years ago and striking up a conversation about the television show “Beavis and Butthead.”

“I was just a guy trying to make conversation with his sister’s boyfriend,” Rowe said.

The two wound up developing a friendship that well outlasted the MTV comedy.

“We were relatives by chance, but friends by choice,” Rowe said.

Despite his intimidating stature, Rowe said Denzinger was a “big kid” around his six nephews.

“He was a big guy that was a teddy bear when he got around his nephews,” Rowe said.

Rev. Jeffrey L. Otto of St. Peter's Lutheran Church in New Middletown officiated the ceremony. A Brad Paisley song “When I Get Where I’m Going” was played over the loud speaker after Otto spoke of Denzinger’s Christian baptism.

During his sermon, Pastor Otto touched on the “ageless why” question in so many hearts and minds and said the “utterly senseless act” was the result of “sin and evil.”

“Our hearts are aching but our arms are wide open,” Otto said.

Nearly two hours after the ceremony began, the crowd emptied as Tara Denzinger placed her hands on the flag-draped casket as family members behind her embraced her. A nephew leaned his head onto a corner of the casket and cried.

During his sermon, Otto said he had asked Tara what she wanted him to include in his message and she wrote him a page of things to mention. Otto shared from the page how Denzinger made sure she was taken care of while he was in the police academy and she was going through a difficult pregnancy with their daughter Avery.

“He made sure I was taken care of and he made sure the officers he worked with were never without backup,” Tara Denzinger wrote. “This is the Frank I want people to remember.”