Delta » Several hundred people gathered Tuesday night on this town's Main Street for a candlelight vigil honoring slain Millard County sheriff's Deputy Josie Fox.

"God bless her family ... and everyone she protected and took care of," said Connie Blair. "She protected this whole town. She's going to be missed."

"She saved my life," said Levi Bettis, 22, who said he turned his life around after Fox arrested him for drug possession and then became his friend.

"She got me out of a couple of felonies," Bettis said. "I feel more or less robbed right now and I think the community does, too."

The centerpiece of the nighttime tribute was a portrait of Fox standing by a tall, bushy marijuana plant.

"It was her first bust," said Fox's friend Robyn Woodbury, who helped organize the vigil. "Josie would be laughing at that [photo]."

"She was a cool cop," said Woodbury's 16-year-old daughter Sierra.

Woodbury told the crowd that when Sierra ran away last year, Fox never gave up the search even after she went off shift.

"She never gave up on anything she loved," Woodbury said.

She added that Fox had a special rapport with young people.

"We have some outstanding youth in this town and Josie is the reason why."

The idea for the vigil was conceived by Braden Johnson.

"She was awesome to the community," said the 17-year-old Johnson. "It's our time to give back."

Earlier in the day, Millard County Sheriff Robert Dekker lamented the loss of Fox.

"We lost a real good lady today, and a great cop," he said. "Everybody feels a great sense of loss. We don't just work together, we become law-enforcement family, and we've lost a great member of that family who enjoyed what she did."

Fox, 37, was shot to death Tuesday morning when she pulled over a vehicle on U.S. Highway 50 near Delta. Colleagues and the community alike remembered the wife and mother of two not only for her work ethic and positive attitude, but also her abundance of compassion.

Steve Alexander, a former Salt Lake County sheriff's deputy who now lives in Delta, called Fox "a true public servant."

"This community has lost a gem," he said. "Josie was a true treasure."

Fox began her law-enforcement career with the Millard County Sheriff's Office more than five years ago. In addition to patrolling the Delta area, she made sure sex offenders in the area were registered with the state registry and worked on gang assignments. She had a teen daughter and son, and Dekker said her ability to connect with youth is what made her such a special member of the force.

"She had an uncanny ability to work with youth. They seemed to trust her. She'd talk to them on and off duty," Dekker said. "She could almost always solve a juvenile crime for us. If she couldn't, it probably wasn't done by local kids."

By early Tuesday afternoon, the community began to share its condolences for a woman well known throughout the area.

About 1 p.m., Fox's friend David Frandsen was putting up a sign outside his gas station in Lynndyl, a few miles north of Delta, that read: "With our heartfelt sorrow, Josie. You will be missed."

Alexander himself met Fox about five years ago when his wife had a seizure and Fox responded to the call. Alexander said she arrived before medical personnel and stayed with his wife the whole time, even riding to the hospital in the ambulance while holding her hand.

From there, a friendship blossomed.

"The conversations always led into law enforcement," said Alexander, who spent about 30 years as a peace officer. "She picked my brains about how I might respond to this or that."

Alexander, who himself was shot while on duty, said domestic disputes and traffic stops are the most dangerous calls a police officer takes. During a traffic stop "you don't know what's in that car, especially at night," he said.

Elizabeth Peterson's memory of Fox is typical of how many recalled her on Tuesday: She was more like a "friend and protector" than a cop.

"I never saw her without a smile," Peterson added. "It didn't matter if she was on-call or not. She was a special lady."

Blair said Fox would drive by her apartment complex and "wave to us and say hi and make sure we were OK."

Fox's family has declined to make any public statements. But her daughter, 15-year-old Hunter Winn, attended the vigil and accepted hugs and condolences.

Nate Carlisle contributed to this report.