Stephen Mayhle
(1980 - 2009)

Pittsburgh Police officer Stephen Mayhle just turned 29 the day before he was shot and killed.

He has two little "angels" as a church website describes his daughters, 6-year-old Jennifer and 3-year-old Brooklyn.

The Keepville Church pastor wrote about Stephen Mayhle: "Two precious little girls no longer will have a daddy to come at night. He is a hero."

Newspaper reports say Mayhle went to high school at Indiana Wesleyan School and then graduated from IUP.

His grandfather in Knoxville, Tennessee, says Stephen worked with the family's landscaping business there until he got the Pittsburgh Police officer job two years ago.

His family says he was a fun-loving guy and a great father to his girls.

Mayhle moved to Brookline recently where stores and shopkeepers along the business district are honoring Mayhle and all of the officers killed Saturday.


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Mayhle celebrated his 29th birthday on Friday. He had been on the force for two years.

He was killed along with officers Eric Kelly, 41, and Paul Sciullo II, 37. Their deaths are being mourned by western Pennsylvania law enforcement and in virtual worlds on the Internet.

An honor guard of no fewer than 29 police vehicles escorted a hearse carrying Mayhle's casket Sunday afternoon from Pittsburgh to the John A. Lefdahl Funeral Home in White Township, for funeral preparations.

Internet users posted prayers and expressions of grief on a series of memorial pages set up on Facebook.com.

Mayhle grew up near Jimmy Stewart Airport in White Township, graduated from Indiana Wesleyan School in Dixonville and earned a criminology degree at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

In so many ways, his family said, Stephen Mayhle was living the dream. Reaching his goals. And big among his virtues was patience.

Mayhle got the job he wanted, with some waiting.

``You won't find another guy who was more proud of what he did, who he was and where he came from,'' his wife, Shandra, told the Gazette.

Mayhle went to the city he loved, with some more waiting.

``He had a chance to become a state policeman, but it was always his dream to be on the Pittsburgh City police,'' his father, Ronald Mayhle, said Sunday.

He said his son also put in applications for the state police academy and took the Indiana Borough civil service test. But Pittsburgh called first and Stephen never looked back.

``He always loved Pittsburgh. He loved the Pirates and the Steelers,'' Mayhle said. ``He liked the city life. And the skyline. He always went to the fireworks night games and for New Year's Eve.''

When Stephen entered the city police academy, Ronald said, ``he dropped all the trying to become state police.''

And Stephen Mayhle paid his dues for being young and just out of school. Before being hired as a cop, he moved to his father's hometown, Knoxville, Tenn., and started his own landscaping business. After four years, Ronald Mayhle said, his son sold the business to his partner, returned to Pennsylvania and went for the police job he wanted.

And before all that, he got the girl.

All their lives, Stephen Mayhle and Shandra Wallace attended the same church and the same school - Indiana Wesleyan, a parochial school so tiny that students in two grades share each classroom.

And they were friends all that time, Shandra Mayhle said.

``Extremely good friends,'' she said Sunday. ``I could talk to him about anything. He was wonderful, he was such a sweetheart.''

She revealed that Stephen was the first who wanted to be more than just friends. That was about 1996, when he was in 11th grade and she was in ninth.

``He liked me for two years!'' Shandra said. ``But I was dating someone at the time. Then we broke up, and Steve and I started dating.''

Stephen and Shandra announced their engagement in May 2000, just before she graduated. They married six months later. Two and a half years after that, their first daughter, Jennifer, came along.

Jennifer turned 6 on Wednesday, two days before Stephen's 29th birthday. Stephen had just taught Jennifer how to ride a bike, and gave her a new two-wheeler for her birthday.

Their younger daughter, Brooklynn, is 3.

``He was a very loving dad and his girls adored him. Their favorite time was play time with him,'' Shandra Mayhle said. ``He was extremely devoted to his family. He bent over backward for us on many occasions. He was a very good guy.''

Family pictures on the Mayhles' blog made that abundantly clear, said Roanna Thawley, a friend of the family.

``I could tell he was a wonderful, devoted father,'' Thawley said. ``I'm so sad that these girls have lost their father. I can't imagine what that would be like.''

Thawley, 17, said her mother and Stephen's mother, Marjorie Mayhle, worked together in the dining hall at a church camp in Stoneboro, Mercer County, and that she saw Stephen there over the years.

Thawley, of Salem, Ohio, kept in contact with the Mayhles through the Facebook social networking site and said she learned of Stephen's death before it was reported in the mainstream media.

``I felt like I had been punched. I was stunned,'' she said. ``This was the first time (a violent death) has really touched my life. For the first time it was somebody that I actually know. Now I know what those other people have gone through.''

Thawley created one of the memorial tribute pages, ``In Memory of Police Officer Stephen Mayhle,'' on the Facebook site. By the end of Sunday, 375 people had signed up to read the prayers and tributes, and site visitors from as far away as Alaska had posted messages to the family.

Ronald Mayhle said his son was patiently waiting for the chance to reach his next goal of becoming a homicide detective. He needed to put in five years as a patrol officer before bidding on a promotion.

Only three months ago, Stephen Mayhle and his family bought a house in Brookline, in Pittsburgh's South Hills section.

``Being on the force, he knew which areas are quiet, as far as crime,'' Ronald Mayhle said. ``Brookline was one of the top five quietest neighborhoods.''

Mayhle's family bought him a new grill for his birthday and Shandra said the weather was right for a cookout Friday evening.

``We had his favorite, steak,'' Shandra said. ``He and I had such a fun time cooking together. Wonderful memories.

``The girls wrapped bags of some of his favorite candy all by themselves and gave that to him for his birthday. They had so much fun decorating the table.''

An Associated Press story about the shootings characterized Stanton Heights as a quiet neighborhood of ``well-kept single-family houses and manicured lawns'' where the deadly violence that erupted Saturday was far from residents' imaginations.

But the risk of trouble that goes with being a police officer wasn't lost on Shandra Mayhle.

``People always asked me how I could sleep at night,'' she said. ``I just knew from stories that he came home and told me, that Pittsburgh police are so supportive of each other, and I just knew somebody had his back.

``This particular time no one had a chance to have his back.''

``I'm sure a good part of it was God helping me out, but I ... had a lot of confidence in the Pittsburgh Police Department, that they were going to be there for him, too.''

Roanna Thawley said Christian faith is helping the Mayhle family and friends through the tragedy.

``We have a strong bond because we are believers and part of the body of Christ,'' she said. ``When one hurts, we all hurt. We are all heartbroken ... but we all have a hope that one day we will be reunited.''

Shandra Mayhle said her husband should be remembered for being honest and hard working.

``He was very goal oriented, and he was a guy that loved his family with all his heart and was very loyal.''