“He said, ‘I’m getting up in age,’ and we would talk about retirement once in awhile, and I said I would support him in any decision he made,” she said. “He said, ‘They need my training and expertise.’ He said there are young men he sent out there who needed his help. He was a mentor for all the younger people, and he wanted to be an example by being a leader in how he lived and worked.”

For the past 24 years, Wolfe was a civilian deputy commander of the 30th Space Wing Mission Support Group. While juggling his career and family obligations, he taught Bible classes at Los Osos Church of Christ for more than 20 years.

“He would drive for an hour from work to home and he would still teach Bible class on Wednesday nights,” Cynthia Wolfe said. “He was devoted to his church as much as his family.”

On May 25, Wolfe was killed when his convoy was hit by a roadside bomb. On Sunday, his body was flown from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport, where he received a hero’s welcome complete with a procession of military agencies and veterans.

A service for Wolfe will be at 11 a.m. June 2 at Camp San Luis Obispo, followed by burial at Los Osos Valley Memorial Park.

While the shock of losing her husband of 33 years is something she still struggles with day to day, Cynthia Wolfe said the outpouring of support from family, friends and strangers has helped her and her three children deal with their pain.

“They are being really strong, but they are grief-stricken, yet still very proud of him,” she said of her children — Carrie Wolfe-Smith, 28; Katie Wolfe, 25; and Evan Wolfe, 22. “We saw him as a husband and daddy, but now we’ve seen the rest of the picture — that he was such a well-regarded man. The honor that was paid to him will last in our hearts.”

Wolfe attended Hueneme High School and enlisted in the Navy shortly after he graduated in 1972. Cynthia Ralston went to Buena High School in Ventura, and the couple met and married in 1975.

After five years of active service, Wolfe decided to continue as a reservist and eventually earned a bachelor’s of science degree in construction engineering from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 1980.

“He was supposed to come home on July 10,” Cynthia Wolfe said. “Last time we talked to him, he was just so happy ... so proud of Katie. We were all able to say, ‘We love you ... we can’t wait to see you.’ His mind and heart were always at home and how the family was doing.”

(Story used with permission.)