Fallen detention deputy to be honored nationally

This week will be one of mixed emotions for Diane Carroll.

She will spend today with Goodhue County sheriff's deputies remembering her husband, Tom, the detention deputy who died exactly one year ago during a CPR training exercise at the jail.

There is a silver lining to the somber anniversary, however.

Earlier this week Diane Carroll met with a representative from the Correctional Peace Officers Foundation to talk about a national recognition for her husband.

The non-profit agency recently informed Carroll they would be honoring her husband, along with 11 others, in June during its annual national memorial service for fallen correctional officers.

Carroll will travel to Buffalo, N.Y., for the ceremony along with a Goodhue County sheriff's official.

"It means a lot to me," Carroll said this week.

The CPO Foundation was created in 1984 to support surviving family of correctional officers who die in the line of duty.

The foundation isn't the only organization to reach out to Tom Carroll's widow and family. The sheriff's office recently held a benefit in the detention deputy's honor and last year Diane Carroll was given a $3,500 check from the Minnesota 100 Club.

The non-profit Minneapolis agency provides aid to families of fallen officers.

Tom Carroll, 51, collapsed with a heart attack March 10, 2009, while receiving CPR training with fellow detention deputies.

Staff attempted to resuscitate him before paramedics transported him to Fairview Red Wing Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

"To us it seems like it was just yesterday," said Hermann von Knobelsdorff, Goodhue County sheriff's detention lieutenant. "But I'm sure to Diane it feels like years and years."

Von Knobelsdorff said he and the rest of the sheriff's department are proud their fallen coworker and friend - a former Navy SEAL who played Santa Claus a Christmas parties - will be honored nationally.

"It's quite an honor to be bestowed upon a local person," von Knobelsdorff said. "We're proud of it."

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