The Rev. Fred Byrne recounted words spoken by Jesus at the Last Supper.

"A man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends,'" he quoted from the Gospel of John.

"Mickey knew these words and lived these words," Father Byrne said.

He spoke of Michael "Mickey" Slebodnik, a helicopter pilot who died in combat in Afghanistan earlier this month.

Friends and family of Mr. Slebodnik gathered yesterday at St. Richard Parish in Richland for his funeral.

The 39-year-old chief warrant officer who served four tours of duty in Iraq was flying an OH-58 Kiowa helicopter when he was killed Sept. 11.

It was his first deployment to Afghanistan, and he was stationed in Jalalabad.

"The mission that God gave to Mickey has been accomplished," Father Byrne said.

Mr. Slebodnik, who grew up in Richland and most recently lived in Clarksville, Tenn., was married with four children and two step-sons. He joined the Army in 1987 at age 17.

"Mickey loved his country," said his sister, Jody Deems. "He loved being a soldier. That's all he ever wanted to be."

She told stories of Mr. Slebodnik as a young child, playing with his plastic soldiers. He shot at them with BB guns; built forts and burned them down, and even blew them up with firecrackers.

But her brother had a softer side. A singer with a great tenor voice, he was also a talented artist, who often sent drawings home to his family, as well as hand-drawn birthday cards, enclosed in letters he sent from overseas.

The close attention to detail he used in his art was the same he applied to his job flying helicopters, Ms. Deems said.

He told his mother, Patricia, that the noise inside the helicopter during a firefight was so loud and all-encompassing that there was no time to be afraid.

"He told my mom if he died doing what he loved not to be sad," Ms. Deems said. "It was on God's time."

Her brother was a religious man, she said. He believed in the power of prayer and the goodness of those around him.

Father Byrne told those in attendance not to mourn for Mr. Slebodnik, "but to praise the Lord for a life well-lived," as a father, husband, son and soldier.

"We cry for ourselves because we're going to miss him," Ms. Deems said. "And the memories come, and we laugh. Because he was goofy."

She said that as a child her brother would purposely annoy her by walking around the house singing in a high falsetto like Frankie Valli.

He referenced that in the last letter she received from him, written on Aug. 24. In it, Mr. Slebodnik described where he was living. As he wrote, he told her he was listening to songs on the computer server. He started the letter to ABBA's "Dancing Queen."

"When God was handing out rhythm, I was MIA," he wrote. "What I lack in ability, I make up in enthusiasm."

As he finished the letter, the song had switched to The Four Seasons' "Oh What a Night."