Fred Preston, 70, was charged with first-degree murder in the death of OPP Const. Vu Pham. Mr. Preston died on Thursday.
A man accused of gunning down an Ontario police officer was remembered Tuesday as someone with large hands, a big smile and a huge heart.
Scores of relatives and friends packed a small church to mourn Fred Preston, who died in hospital last Thursday surrounded by singing family members days after a shootout with police north of London, Ont.
"The totality of Fred's life will not be remembered . . . by one act," Pastor Don Smith told the congregation assembled at the Church of Christ in this northern Ontario community.
Mr. Smith also paid special tribute to Heather Pham, the wife of Const. Vu Pham, 37, who was shot and later died after stopping a motorist on a rural road in the incident that left Preston critically wounded.
He quoted Ms. Pham as saying "forgiveness is the only way to release ourselves from this pain and anger."
The service for Mr. Preston, 70, was far more subdued than the elaborate police funeral last Friday for the slain officer.
Amid the hymns and prayers, his family - among them his wife Barbara - offered their thoughts via statements Mr. Smith read aloud.
Mr. Preston's 21-year-old granddaughter Cayla said he had a "heart of gold."
"I always felt safe with my grandfather," she said.
"He taught me to love everyone around me."
Family members described holding his hands and feet and singing his favourite hymns to him after the decision was made to take Preston off life-support at the London Health Sciences Centre.
"We knew he had heard us because he shed a tear," his daughters wrote.
Congregants heard how the retired logger and one-time reeve charmed the world with his smile, and how he loved camping, hunting and singing.
He was also devout, an avid student of the Bible.
The praise for the man police had charged with first-degree murder the day before he died jarred with the crime of which he was accused.
One person who knew Mr. Preston well called him "complex."
"We all have our dark side," said the man, who asked not to be identified. "But today is not the time to talk about that."
Family members have said Preston was distraught about his failing marriage, but said his behaviour the day Officer Pham was shot was completely out of character.
No one had an inkling of just how upset he was, said Don Preston, the dead man's nephew.
"It's impossible to explain what happened that day, and I'll guess we'll never know for sure," Preston said after the service.
"That was not Fred," said Carla Harmer, Preston's niece.
"That was not the Fred that we know, and the Fred that we love."
The family has asked any memorial donations go to a trust fund for Officer Pham's three sons.