NEWBERRY — Rows of officers in forest green, black and brown uniforms stood at attention near the entrance of the Canterbury Showplace, their faces somber as the gray sky.
A hum of muffled voices filled the covered arena — the sounds of those waiting to say their last goodbyes.
Two officers on white horses led a black hearse as it backed into the arena. Uniformed law enforcement officers saluted their friend, their co-worker, their brother, in his casket.
Jean-Guy Deffense, who had served with the University Police since 2008, died in a car accident Friday afternoon in Orlando.
Deffense, 43, and his wife, Marcia Wolf, 45, were headed westbound on State Road 408 when Deffense drove around a curve, lost control of his 2008 Dodge Ram 1500 and veered into a grass shoulder. Wolf was unharmed.
During the memorial service Wednesday, dozens of family members, co-workers and acquaintances praised Deffense for his patriotism, dedication and strength.
They described him as a man who could overcome challenges, and to one officer, Deffense was “the toughest guy I ever met.”
Family members said he was a man who held himself to a high standard. As a young man, Deffense worked at McDonald’s, and when he dressed for work, he took pride in his uniform: shined shoes and pressed pants.
“No one looked better at that McDonald’s than Jean-Guy,” a family member said.
His friends reminisced about how Deffense once got his hands on a Boy Scouts uniform, even though he wasn’t one.
He later became a member of the JROTC at his high school, where he wore his uniform even on prom night.
Deffense served as a United States Army military police officer and was involved in Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Jonathon Defino, who led the memorial, spent 18 months deployed with Deffense.
“Even in the desert his uniform was spotless,” he said.
Defino also described Deffense as a friend who had a “coolness factor about him: slow to speak, fast to listen.”
Once the service ended, mourners moved to say their final goodbyes at West Hills Memorial Gardens in Jonesville.
There, after a three-volley salute and “Taps” trumpet call, Deffense was lowered into the ground.
“If Jean-Guy could come back, I believe he would say, ‘Our lives are short. We need to enjoy it, prepared for what’s next,” Defino said.
