FLOYDS KNOBS, Ind. (AP) -- A long procession of police officers, firefighters and other emergency personnel from Kentucky and Indiana filed into Floyd Central High School Saturday morning to pay respects to fallen Floyd County Sheriff's Deputy Frank Denzinger.

  Officers lined the hallway leading to the school's gymnasium and then slowly saluted as Denzinger's casket was wheeled in for the service.

Floyd County Sheriff's Department

Floyd County Deputy Frank Denzinger was laid to rest June 23, 2007. He was fatally shot by a distraught 15-year-old named Troy Dumstorf on June 18. Dumstorf later died from a self-invlicted gunshot wound.

  Denzinger, a 1993 Floyd Central graduate, died hours after he and his partner, Deputy Joel White, were shot Monday night when a teenager fired a rife from his family's house as the officers spoke in the driveway with his mother.

  Tyler Dumstorf fired a World War II sniper rifle from an upstairs window as the officers talked to his mother about an argument she had with him. Each deputy was struck once in the back.  White, 27, returned fire but missed. He was hopsitalized in serious condition after the shooting.

  Dumstorf, 15, died afterward from a self-inflicted gunshot.

  Denzinger was a four-year veteran of the sheriff's department.

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During Saturday's service, which lasted nearly two hours, officers and family members traded their favorite memories of him.

  Floyd County Sheriff Darrell Mills talked about working an "Operation Seatbelt" once with Denzinger and setting a goal of stopping four cars an hour.

  "Frank would average four cars in two minutes," Mills said.

  The sheriff said Denzinger was "considerate of everyone in every situation.  "We've been fortunate to have him in our family," he said.

  Michael Rowe, a brother-in-law of Denzinger's, said he met the deputy 16 years ago, and they became "relatives by chance, but friends by choice.

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  "He loved to laugh. He loved to make people laugh," Rowe said. "He was the king of one liners."

  Rowe described Denzinger as a perfect uncle who loved to play with his six nephews.

  "He was a big guy, but he was a teddy bear when he got around his nephews," Rowe said. "He was a big kid. "Frankie was, to me, a figure of authority and humanity."

  Another brother-in-law, Craig Cook, said he "will burst with pride if my sons turn out to be as honest and loyal as their uncle."

  Denzinger's wife, Tara, said before Saturday's service that she felt her husband's presence last night.

  "He knows I am a strong, stubborn woman and I will get through this," she said. "At some point, this day will fade away and we will become more and more normal."

  After the service, she walked up to her husband's coffin and placed her hands on it, as family members embraced her. One nephew hugged a corner of the coffin and cried.

  Pallbearers then wheeled the casket out into an afternoon rain storm.

  A crowd of roughly 1,200 people attended the tribute.