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AP/Steve Yeater Jennifer Smith is comforted by her uncle, Arnim McLain, at a memorial gathering for her husband, Cole Younger Smith, Saturday in Grass Valley, Calif. Cole Smith was remembered as a "gentle giant." At funeral, grief mingles with anger By DANI DODGE of the Mail Tribune GRASS VALLEY, Calif . -- In church and park ceremonies Saturday, more than 150 people remembered Cole Younger Smith. Sometimes words of sorrow were tinged with anger. "You watched with pride as he grew up to become a fine young man, loving husband and father," said his former neighbor and friend, Julie Lincoln. "Most of those memories are of a kind, gentle giant. "This is how Cole would want to be remembered, and not by the tragic, senseless way he departed." (AP Photo/Steve Yeater) Jennifer Smith, widow of Cole Younger Smith, holds pictures of their daughters Andrea and Alison and a wedding photo of her with her husband at a memorial gathering of family and friends held in Grass Valley, Calif., on Saturday, January 22, 2000. Smith was killed by Medford police on Dec. 28 after a 90-minute standoff in the Central Point Oregon State Patrol headquarters parking lot. He was 25. Friends and family attended a service at St. Patrick's Catholic Church and gathered afterward in Condon Park, where Smith used to ride his bike through the woods. The Rev. Simon Twomey, who led the church service, recalled Smith's qualities as a good father, a good friend and a good man who could always make people laugh. "Maybe the Lord needed someone like him in heaven," Twomey said. "Someone who could delight the Lord, just as he delighted us.'' Twomey urged friends and family to replace their anger with Smith's gentleness and good nature. "All of our anger, where will it take us?" he asked. "Nowhere. Leave your anger here." But people who spoke later at the park couldn't shake the pain of losing their friend to police bullets. "Questions aren't being answered, and there's no closure with no answers," said Dorothy Talon-Quaid, a friend of the family. "My huge hope is if nothing else comes out of Cole's death, it will be that no one else will die like that. "If one person is saved, his death will mean something." Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA