Deputy Keltner was killed in the line of duty last week, much to the shock of our community. A member of the U.S. Marshal's Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force, Keltner leaves behind a wife and two children.
Law enforcement is a rather thankless job ... but we are thankful. And we hope that his family knows how thankful we are -- and, even more, we are thankful for everyone who puts their life on the line for the safety of others.
When things like this happen in our community, it brings us together. We are joined together in our grief and bound together by hope.
Our sorrow for the loss of a son, a husband and a father overwhelms us, and begs for answers, yet there are none. But hope was demonstrated in the outpouring of love, lining our streets and covering our buildings. We hope that his family and his brothers and sisters in law enforcement felt our concern and support as they passed the flags, the oceans of blue, the ribbons tied to light posts and road signs, and the children placing police flags in the piles of snow along the procession route. We grieve with you. We back the blue.
Thank you, Deputy Keltner, for your sacrifice, for your service, for being a role model, and for putting the lives of others before your own. Thank you.
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| Bryon Secor carried the flag once draped over the casket of his own father, Elmer Secor', U.S. Army sergeant in WWII. He met Ron Leopold, an Austrian/Yugoslavian immigrant, as we waited for the procession to begin. He told me that he knew he was honoring his father by honoring the sacrifice of Deputy Keltner with this flag. This was the first time he'd ever unwrapped the flag since his father's funeral in 1989. Both men said they were grateful to live in this country. |
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| A family of children were sticking these flags in the snow mounds along the route. |
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