Hundreds help assuage agony of El Paso victim’s survivor.
EL PASO, Texas — When Jordan Ballard read that one of the victims of the El Paso massacre had few relatives and the public was invited to her funeral, the Los Angeles resident bought a plane ticket and flew to El Paso to honor a woman she had never met.
She was one of hundreds of strangers who braved 100degree heat to pay their respects to 63yearold Margie Reckard. Feeling alone after her death, Reckard’s companion of 22 years, Antonio Basco, had welcomed anyone to come.
“I arrived here this morning,” said Ballard, 38, who lived in New York City during the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. “His story moved me.”
The service was moved from a funeral home to La Paz Faith Memorial & Spiritual Center to accommodate the crowd. Vocalists and musicians volunteered to help, including a mariachi band. Condolences and orders for flowers poured in.
“He felt like he was going to kind of just be by himself with this whole thing, but it’s not so,” Perches Funeral Homes director Harrison Johnson said Thursday of Basco.
While wellwishers waited, Basco arrived to people shouting blessings in English and Spanish. Before entering the funeral home, someone gave him a gift that appeared to be an El Paso Tshirt.
“I love y’all, man,” Basco said, before breaking down.
Jason Medina, 42, of El Paso, also felt he had to come. Wearing a black and red zoot suit, Medina stood quietly in line and waited for his chance to say goodbye to someone he never knew. “I know her now,” Medina said. “We’re all family, bro.”
Reckard had children from a previous marriage who traveled from out of town to the funeral. But Johnson said that for Basco, Reckard was “his life, his soul mate, his best friend.” The couple had a car wash business, he said.
On Tuesday, Perches posted on Facebook a photo of a bereft Basco kneeling by a candlelight memorial. The post welcomed anyone to attend Reckard’s funeral and soon drew thousands of comments and shares.