Beatrice Richardson • Herald/Review Border Patrol officials followed by family members pay their respects to Border Patrol Agent Nicholas Ivie during his funeral service at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Monday.
Posted on 10/09/2012 2:43:30 PM PDT by SandRat
SIERRA VISTA — More than 1,000 people attended the funeral service for US Border Patrol Agent Nicholas Ivie on Monday, where his friends and family praised him as a dedicated servant and a loving family man.
Ivie was killed a week ago, on Oct. 2, just 11 days before his 31st birthday, during an exchange of friendly fire after he and two other agents were responding to a ground sensor that had been activated in the desert east of Bisbee and about 5 miles north of the Mexican border.
Among those filling the seats and pews of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Sierra Vista Stake Center were hundreds of local and federal law enforcement officers, including U.S. Border Patrol and U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel. Also present were Gov. Jan Brewer and U.S. Representative Ron Barber.
In recent days, Ivie’s family has been exchanging cherished memories of the young man they all loved, some of which were shared during Monday’s service by his older brother Joel Ivie.
“When Nick was 6 years old, his older brother decided it would be about the right time for his first driving lesson. So, his older brother put him behind the wheel of his old Ford Bronco, and decided to drive around the work yard by all the construction equipment,” Joel Ivie said. “As his older brother sat beside him, Nick was barely able to see over the steering wheel, maybe through it. He went to turn a corner, and as he boosted himself up to see up higher, he stepped on the gas pedal, and the Bronco went speeding around the corner and right into a classic Mustang.”
The two brothers had the pleasure of working with each other out of the Brian Terry Border Patrol Station in Naco in the months before Nicholas’ death. Some mornings, when the men would carpool, Joel Ivie said he would find himself waiting in his vehicle while his brother ran in and out of the house, quickly finishing last minute tasks so that his wife would not have to do them while he was gone to work for the day.
As an agent, Nicholas Ivie excelled at his job, said fellow Border Patrol Agent Aaron Kerr.
“Nick and I worked in the same field training unit. Nick was a natural when it came to tracking aliens and finding groups. He grew up with a hunting background, so he was familiar with tracking and very good at it,” Kerr said. “Several times with our field training unit, we would be looking in an area for a group, and Nick would be looking in another area, and sure enough, Nick would be the one to come up with the group. He was the type of agent that everyone wanted to work with, because if there was a group to find, he would find it.”
Those that knew Ivie for even a short time soon became aware of the great love he had for his wife, Christy Ivie, and their two daughters, Kerr said.
With Christy Ivie’s permission, Kerr read aloud a poem her husband had written to her about how they met, in which he describes her as “the one who makes my life twirl.”
While not everyone on their street may have known him by name, Kerr said one would be hard pressed to find someone who never saw Ivie playing outside with his daughters.
“No child has ever been blessed with a more loving father. He is an example to every man of the joy that comes from righteous fatherhood,” he said.
“Nick’s girls were his pride and joy. He loved to feed them, bathe them, care for them, he was even known to ride trikes with them,” Joel Ivie said.
His brother’s life was filled by his faith in his God and his love for his family, who now take comfort in the knowledge that their beloved son, father and brother now resides in heaven, where they will all one day meet again.
“Sometimes I have to wonder why Nick was taken at this time, but then, I also think, Nick was such a great man, that he was ready to enter the kingdom of God. So as God needed Nick to do work on the other side of the veil, Nick was ready,” Joel Ivie said.
Press conference
In a brief press conference following Monday’s service, Ivie family spokesman Kevin Goates relayed additional information regarding the days following Nicholas Ivie’s death and the reaction by his family.
On Friday, Ivie’s wife and brother, Christy Ivie and Joel Ivie, were briefed by authorities concerning the details surrounding his death on Oct. 2 as a result of friendly fire.
Following that meeting, the Ivie family was visited by Janet Napolitano, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, David Aguilar, deputy commander of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Jeffrey Self, commander of U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Arizona field joint command.
These officials again relayed what information they could about the death of Ivie, Goates said, before taking time to hear the thoughts and concerns they might have.
“She mainly listened to the family, and wanted to hear what the family wanted to say and what their thoughts were,” Goates said of Napolitano.
After expressing concern for the two other Border Patrol agents who were involved in the incident that led to Ivie’s death, the family expressed desire to meet the agent who was injured in the event.
On Saturday, the injured agent visited the family at Christy Ivie’s home.
“I have to tell you, that was one of the most moving experiences of my life,” Goates said. “He was welcomed, as he walked into that house, with unbelievable love.”
Goates also took the opportunity to express the family’s thanks to the US Border Patrol and the support its personnel have provided to them in the last week.
A second funeral service for Nicholas Ivie is scheduled for Thursday at the Utah Valley University campus, just north of Provo.
May anyone lying about how he met his end not.
Forgive me if I am not convinced of the assertion that this fine man died from ‘friendly fire’. Given the timing with Obama’s slamming on Univision over ‘Fast & Furious’ I am left to wonder if the claim of friendly fire isn’t more politically palatable than the possibility that this was another Border Patrol officer who was harmed by a Mexican armed with a ‘Fast & Furious’ firearm.
I do not believe any agent would just blaze away at unidentified targets down there, which is what they said Ivie did.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.