MOUNTAIN GREEN — On a broad green shoulder of a hill, almost as wide as Peter Berg's smile, kissed by a breath of wind as playful as one of his jokes, Whitney Berg talked about her dad just laid to rest.
"Everyone tells me he gave his life for me. I think that's right. That's the kind of guy he was," said Whitney, 12, holding a "Hug Me" bear given by one of five friends flanking her.
The way Berg, 43, died April 27, distracting a gunman away from Whitney before the assailant shot Berg at Chevy's Fresh Mex Restaurant in Sandy, permeated the throng of mourners flocking from this town of 1,425 to the snug Mountain Green Cemetery. The Sandy rampage left Berg and another man dead.
"I think he is a hero," said Andre Malan, Berg's best friend since moving here eight years ago. "He was a man of integrity, so I don't think taking a bullet was a big choice for him at all. He just did what needed to be done."
After the dedication of the grave by Walter J. Berg, Peter's father, Bishop David R. Miller of the Mountain Green Ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints noted the spectacular blue sky and sun-splashed day washing Weber Canyon, framed by snowy Farmington Peak and Mount Ogden.
It was the kind of day Peter Berg would have ordered up for his friends if he had the pull to do so.
"He always put other people first," Miller said.
It was this way of living, as much as the way Berg died, that drew an overflow crowd to the Mountain Green Ward chapel for the service. The gathering spilled from the sanctuary into the adjacent gymnasium and to the stage beyond that.
"We made space for 1,000. I see we were short. What a tribute to the life of a marvelous man," Miller said.
The church foyer bore a memorial trail of that life, including the 12 years the salesman for Hertz Car Sales spent making friends here.
There was the bat signed by the 1996 New York Yankees, a high prize for a native of Jamaica, Queens, N.Y. The snowboard and golf clubs, the pictures of him mountain biking, playing the piano and drums. Above everything, the family photos with his wife of 20 years, Loydene; Whitney and P.J., whose 17th birthday the family celebrated at the restaurant.
Snapshots of them in aspen groves, boating, romping in a ball of denim on the rug, dad hugging daughter after a Little League game.
"His family was the highlight of his life," said buddy Mark Ohlin, who met Berg "18 years ago, and he was one of those guys where you become instant friends."
Scarcely a moment passed without reference to Berg's widely known puckishness.
"I look out at all these people and I can hear Pete whisper to me, 'You know, I bet I could sell 100 cars to this crowd,' " said his brother, Dwight Berg. "He was a guy who could make you laugh in any situation."
He told of Peter getting his temple recommend renewed. When the interview ended, he was asked about the package of Oreo cookies on his lap.
"I wanted to make sure I got my recommend," he said.
Malan told of the time he and his wife, Maren, and the Bergs went to Steamboat Springs. After splashing in the hot springs and a rockem-sockem snowball fight, they were careening down the mountain, screeching Garth Brooks at the top of their lungs, when Malan ran off the road.
Later, he asked his friend to write a report to the insurance company.
"We were flying down the mountain when Andre screamed, 'Ramming speed,' " the report read.
" 'Does that help?' Pete asked me," Malan said.
The family's heart of tenderness, as well as laughter, overarched the services.
"I marvel at their ability to set aside anger and bitterness," Miller said. "They include the man who shot Peter in their prayers."
Loydene said she drew a spirit of sweetness from a scriptural passage: "And it shall come to pass that those that die in me shall not taste of death, for it shall be sweet unto them."
"I can see Peter up there with that smirk of his, knowing something we don't know," Loydene said. "That's the spirit of love I want to be here today."
That spirit was underscored in a revelation by Dwight Berg, He said he'd talked to the woman who held Peter as he said his last words.
"He said, 'Is Whitney OK?' " Dwight said. "Those last words were all you needed to know about Peter."
You can reach Gib Twyman by e-mail at gtwyman@desnews.com