Candlelight vigil pays tribute to deputy Austin Aldridge. Sunday's funeral procession planned.

Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office held a candlelight vigil for fallen deputy Austin Aldridge on Friday, June 24. The vigil began at approximately 8:15 p.m. and lasted well into the evening.

Aldridge's funeral will be held Sunday afternoon with family, close friends and law enforcement. He will be laid to rest at Westwood Memorial Gardens.

Aldridge's family was in attendance at the event, memorializing Aldridge's legacy through matching t-shirts reading, "greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for his friends, John 15:13."

Joe and Sandi Matthews, from the Christian-country band Rhapsody Praise, attend the vigil as an ordained minister and nurse. Joe Matthews said he is a former law enforcement officer and recounted, about a year ago, when he and his wife met deputy Aldridge.

"We saw him sitting on the side of the road one afternoon and just stopped to talk to him," Joe Matthews said. "We were talking for about an hour and a half, and he was just a great individual."

"When we saw his vehicle parked in an abandoned store's parking lot, we pulled in to check on him to make sure he was okay, and we just ended up talking about the community," Sandi Matthews added.

Working for Pickens probation and parole office, Hayley Smith said she came to the Spartanburg community tonight to support her community's neighbor and show respect to a fallen officer.

"I've already been here and cried," Smith said. "I watched the other deputies come up earlier, and it's just hard to see them in the same uniform he wore to pay their respects."

Cousins Lynn Mason and Steve Ranhosky attend the vigil as part of what Mason refers to as the "blue family," given Ranhosky's son is an active member of the military.

Knowing what it is like to fear, as family of someone serving the country, they came to the vigil to support Aldridge's family.

"(Aldridge's death) is heartbreaking. It's useless, and it's senseless," Mason said. "But God's got him."

The official message of the vigil was of similar sentiment: Aldridge's faith, leading to hope and security for the family and community.

Travis Sparks, Broad River Baptist Church youth pastor, gave the prayer and general message of the evening.

"He poured it out to completion. He did his job," Sparks said. "Here's the tough part: we serve a sovereign God. We don't like that deputy Aldridge finished his race the other day, but, for the Lord, it was. He finished the race. He did his job to a completion."

Sparks then led the community in a verse of the hymn Amazing Grace.

Sheriff Chuck Wright concluded the evening with a few words about Aldridge and his personality.

He informed the community that, if Aldridge could have seen them gathering Friday evening, he would have told them to "go about their business."

This was the last scheduled gathering to honor Aldridge prior to his funeral Sunday.

Sunday's funeral procession for Austin Aldridge

The processions to Aldridge's funeral service, will be open to the public but no civilian on the procession route should proceed past the intersection of Highway 290 on Reidville Road toward the cemetery, according to a press release from the Sheriff's Office.

The route from the funeral home to the church will begin by turning left out of the parking lot of Floyd’s Mortuary in downtown Spartanburg. The procession will turn right onto East St. John Street and continue onto John B. White Sr. Blvd./Reidville Road. The procession will take a left on Anderson Mill Road then enter the Church at the Mill's parking lot.

This article originally appeared on Herald-Journal: Candlelight vigil for deputy Austin Aldridge held at Sheriff's Office