It should come as no surprise that Sgt. Sean Renfro gave his life in the service of others, family and friends said Monday at his memorial service in Arvada.
About 1,500 people, including more than 1,000 peace officers and firefighters from around Colorado, gathered at Faith Bible Chapel to celebrate his life and mourn his death.
“I am honored to call Sean Renfro my father,” his 19-year-old son Aleksandr told the mourners. “He is the best father anyone could ask for.”
people who had been in a multi-vehicle collision on Jan. 3. He was helping near Conifer when he was hit by a vehicle on snowy and slick U.S. 285.
Renfro invited members of the Tate family, who were caught up in the accident, to keep warm in his truck while he directed traffic.
Derwood Tate told the gathering Monday that his son, Kenneth, called him the day of the accident.
“I hear two angels stopped to help my children,” Tate said.
Renfro’s friend Sam Yesuratnam was riding with the sergeant that day.
“They didn’t have to stop. How many people would have driven by?” Tate asked during the service. “It was a selfless act of an incredible man.”
Yesuratnam recalled the final moments he spent with Renfro before the accident.
Even after stopping to help, the friends stayed upbeat. Just before Renfro was hit, Yesuratnam was giving him a hard time because Renfro refused to wear a hat in the freezing, snowy weather.
“He didn’t want to mess up his hair,” Yesuratnam said. “I called him a ‘wussie prima donna’ for that one.
“The last thing I heard was him laughing. The next thing he was called home.”
Renfro, a father of four, was a football coach for his youngest son’s team. , Renfro also enjoyed the outdoors, including hunting, and competed in Scottish highland games.
Jefferson County Sheriff Ted Mink recalled Renfro as a proud member of the office, someone who was “put here on Earth to serve others.”
Mink and others shared recollections of Renfro’s mischievous, playful nature.
“Sean, what do you really wear under those kilts?” Mink asked Renfro of his attire while competing in highland games. “All I would get (in response), was Sean’s smile. I assumed that meant nothing.”
Deputy Kevin Yoss, a friend who at one time served on the county jail staff with Renfro, recalled when they worked a night shift together and while on duty Renfro put a portion of the jail “up for sale” on a website as a prank.
The next morning when another deputy was taking heat for the tomfoolery, Renfro stepped up. “He owned up to it,” Yoss said.
Nearly $64,000 has been donated on a , including $4,000 by the Aurora Police Department’s Orphans Fund Inc.
Renfro, a 15-year veteran of the office, is survived by his wife, Crystal, and four children, Dennis, 12, Nadia, 15, Egor and Aleksandr, both 19. All the children spoke at the service.
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822, knicholson@denverpost.com or twitter.com/kierannicholson
