LEWISTON – After her husband died in the line of duty last November, Dawn Rancourt has praised the support of the extended law-enforcement family. On Friday night, it became clear just how extended that family is.

More than 300 patrol officers, troopers, sheriff’s deputies, firefighters and others jammed the Elk’s Club to honor David Rancourt.

“It really is a family,” Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Sgt. William Gagne said. “At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if you wear blue, brown or green.”

More than memorializing a fallen comrade this time, they were there to show continued support for Dawn and her two sons. The David Rancourt Memorial Ball brought a large group of officers together to raise money for a scholarship fund benefiting the children.

“I just wanted to do something for them,” said Karen Whalen, a friend of the Rancourt family and wife of a Lewiston police officer. “For Dawn and for Brock and Jeromey.”

The two boys were at the ball Friday night, as were relatives of Dawn and David Rancourt who continue to be amazed at the commitment of the officers nearly a year after the tragedy.

“They have really helped them through this,” said Charlie Fontaine, David Rancourt’s brother-in-law. “They’ve been great to Dawn and to the kids. And Dawn is just amazing. I don’t know where she gets that strength.”

Dawn, a former police corporal now working for the 911 dispatch center, isn’t so sure herself. She said so much of her time is spent raising her children – one 8 years old, the other 4 months – that she doesn’t have much time to wallow in grief.

“It’s been a long year,” she said. “But I’m surrounded by great people.”

David Rancourt, a deputy with the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Department and a member of the department’s dive team, died from a then-unknown heart condition while diving for evidence in the Androscoggin River.

He was 40 years old. He had survived two tours in Iraq, and had retired from the Army barely a week before his death. Dawn had just found out she was pregnant with their second son, Brock, who was born in June.

Whalen said she had significant help organizing the ball from the wives of the officers. On Thursday night, she and Debbie Jacques, wife of Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Sgt. James Jacques, rolled more than 800 meatballs for the event.

In attendance eating those meatballs were officers from every police department in Androscoggin County and others from elsewhere in the state. Officers came from departments in New Hampshire, and an hour after the ball began, the Elk’s Club was near capacity.

“They came from everywhere,” Dawn said. “And every one of them gets a great big thank you from me and my boys.”