Before a word was said in eulogy for Pte. Kirby Tott, hundreds stood in silence, many with heads bowed and many more with poppies pinned to black cloth for the Prince George reservist.
Eight uniformed pallbearers carried Tott's casket, cloaked with the Canadian flag, into the darkened room at Prince George's Civic Centre as Amazing Grace rang out on bagpipes.
On July 25, the 25-year-old suddenly collapsed while learning to reinforce a trench at the Manitoba military base, Canadian Forces Base Shilo, the military said.
On Wednesday morning, two of his closest friends spoke in his memory.
"No room was the same without him in it," Cpl. Brendan Johansen told the crowd. Many in the almost-full audience, with seating for 800, were in military garb.
"He was the funniest and up-front guy in the room who wouldn't stop talking but we absolutely loved that about him," said Johansen, who met Tott in 2001 when they played on the same hockey team.
Tott was a talented player, he said, but also a physical one.
"He would be the first one in or the first one to start any scrums."
Tott worked at the Prince George Regional Correctional Centre and joined the Rocky Mountain Rangers in 2012. These moves, and his acceptance to the month-long basic training camp, were all stepping stones towards his dream of becoming an RCMP officer, his mother Michelle Tott told the Citizen in an interview after his death became public.
Josh Banzer, who met Tott when he was nine, spoke of those aspirations. Mostly, Tott's friends touched on his humour and his big heart. Banzer said they could spend full days watching sports and "even recently we hung out like we were still like little kids."
"My fiance would say he was like part of the furniture in our house," said Banzer, adding Tott was famous for cleaning their house of burgers and beer.
Tott was described as a man with many friends, who was well-liked and liked to have a good time.
"Kirby was full of great laughs, even if sometimes it was at his expense."
Banzer recalled his compassion in the little gestures, like a recent party where Tott walked Banzer's sister home when he heard she was walking alone.
"That's just what kind of guy Kirby was," he said. "Kirby was my best friend and I'm privileged that I got to have that hilarious, mouthy, loyal, most caring friend. He has left us too soon but I will never forget Kirby," Banzer said.
Capt. Isabel Healy-Morrow, a padre for the Rocky Mountain Rangers, officiated the ceremony.
Healy-Morrow called Kirby's family "salt of the earth" and credited them for raising a man with values and character. She said Tott also left behind a family from the uniformed services.
"The bonds that are formed during training and service to queen and country are unlike any other," she said.
"We grieve our loss deeply."
Healy-Morrow recalled a sign tacked on a bulletin board near the door leading into the soldiers sleeping quarters in Prince George.
"It simply reads: duty, honour, integrity, courage, self-discipline. That's it," she said. "Kirby exemplified these qualities exceptionally and in his own unique way."
Before his casket was carried from the room, a trumpeter performed Last Post and there was a two-minute silence. A photo presentation showed many pictures from Tott's younger years, grinning up at the camera and surrounded by friends.
People lined the streets to watch the train of more than 70 family and friends, RCMP officers and military members escort Tott's body past city hall and the cenotaph to the hearse headed for the Memorial Park Cemetery.
Canadian Forces spokesman Fraser Logan said the military will convene a board of inquiry into Tott's death but couldn't confirm a timeline.
"They take as long as they take," Logan said. "It looks to see if there's anything that the military did that contributed to the death of the soldier. So it's not there to lay blame, it's really an exploratory inquiry to make sure this doesn't happen again."
The family has said Tott didn't have any known pre-existing medical conditions.
An autopsy was performed in the days after his death, before his body was flown home with an honour guard last Thursday, but details have not been released.
