At viewing for fallen lawman, visitors revisit his life

Spanish Fork • The green poster board propped on a table at the Spanish Fork West LDS Stake Center on Tuesday night was made many years ago to tell classmates all they needed to know about Cory Wride.

He liked riding bicycles, swimming, playing basketball and soccer. He liked making model cars and planes. His favorite foods were potatoes, gravy and pudding, His favorite television shows were "Emergency" and "Little House on the Prairie" — a hint of the life of community service and dedication to family that was to come.

There was this, too: "Cory would like to be a fireman or a policeman when he grows up."

And that's exactly what he did.

The 44-year-old Wride, a sergeant with the Utah County Sheriff's Office, was killed Thursday near Eagle Mountain. He had stopped his patrol car to check on a pickup with flashers blinking on State Road 73 when an occupant of the truck, 27-year-old Jose Angel Garcia-Jauregui, allegedly shot him to death.

Garcia-Jauregui then fled south to Santaquin, where he encountered Deputy Greg Sherwood, 38, who was shot and wounded in the head. Sherwood was hospitalized in critical condition initially, but a sheriff's official said Tuesday he is expected to recover.

Later the same day, Garcia-Jauregui was shot and wounded during a gun fight with police in Juab County. He died the next day at a hospital.

That the police community is one big family that crosses communities and state lines was clear Tuesday night at a viewing for Wride. Among the flower sprays lining the stake center hallways were bouquets sent by the Utah Highway Patrol, police wives in Moab and even the Toronto Police Association in Ontario, Canada.

People had already filled a meeting room and spilled into an overflow area at the stake center by 6 p.m., when the two-hour gathering officially started. They waited patiently, somberly, to offer condolences to Wride's family, stopping to linger over photo collages that showed Wride as a child, a husband, father, officer and friend.

He was the boy on the bicycle and in the monster costume. The guy in the broad-brimmed white cowboy hat, a ball cap or, on the many outings to Pheasant Run Lodge, a knit, winter beanie. He was the one cuddling and camping with family and friends, the one with a big smile.

"We thank you for your husband's service to our city and community," said a note from students at Mountain Trails Elementary in Eagle Mountain. "He was an amazing man."

"Good dude," one officer said to another.

Gloria Hadfield's daughter became friends with Wride's wife Nannette 40 years ago and they kept in touch all these years. Hadfield came to offer her love and support.

"They've got a lot of good friends and family to support them," she said.

But making sense of it all isn't easy.

"Unbelievable," she said. "It's hard to believe this tragedy happened to this family."

It helps, she said, to know "Cory will be watching over them." —

Funeral services for Sgt. Cory Wride

Cory Wride's funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Utah Valley University Event Center, 800 West University Parkway, Orem.

The funeral procession will travel north from the Event Center along the frontage road to Orem Center Street and then proceed south on Interstate 15. It will exit at Main Street in Spanish Fork, go south to 300 South, then east to 400 East, and turn right into the Spanish Fork Cemetery

Interment will be at about 4 p.m. Wednesday at the Spanish Fork Cemetery, 420 S. 400 East, Spanish Fork.

For additional details about the funeral, as well as ways to support his family, go to: http://www.utahcounty.gov/corywride/ —

Funeral services

P Cory Wride's funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Utah Valley University Event Center, 800 West University Parkway, Orem.

The funeral procession will travel north from the Event Center along the frontage road to Orem Center Street and then proceed south on Interstate 15. It will exit at Main Street in Spanish Fork, go south to 300 South, then east to 400 East, and turn right into the Spanish Fork Cemetery

Interment will be at about 4 p.m. Wednesday at the Spanish Fork Cemetery, 420 S. 400 East, Spanish Fork. For additional details about the funeral, as well as ways to support his family, go to > utahcounty.gov/corywride/