Homeless vet had no family, so 200 strangers go to funeral

At the funeral, Jaspen Boothe introduced herself as Serina Vine’s sister.

She spoke of the deceased’s heroism as a World War II veteran. She bent down and pressed her lips to the top of the casket.

Yet Boothe, like the 200 or so others who came to pay their respects Tuesday morning, had never met Vine. She had only first heard about Vine a week ago, when she received a call that the 91-year-old homeless veteran with no known relatives was going to be buried at Quantico National Cemetery in Virginia with only four people in attendance.

To Boothe, herself a onetime homeless veteran, that was unacceptable.

She took to social media, posting in veterans groups, hoping to encourage a higher turnout for Vine’s funeral. She hoped she could get even 20 people to show up to give Vine the honorable goodbye she deserved.

Instead, when Boothe arrived at the cemetery, cars were backed up about a half a mile. She thought that there must be multiple events happening at that time. But no, they were all there for Vine.

“It was like a pinnacle moment to show how veterans come together for veterans,” Boothe said. “We are connected through our service and through our sacrifice. Look around now, she has 200 or so family members. As long as you’re a veteran you have friends and family everywhere and you’re never alone.”

Little is known about Vine’s life. She lived in the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Community Living Center in Washington since 1995, when she was found homeless on the streets and suffering from dementia.

It is known that Vine served in the Navy from 1944 to 1946 doing radio intelligence. William Jones, a retired Marine who works at Quantico, helped fill in some of the blanks. He received a call a week ago from a colleague, Katie Bryan, who took care of Vine’s finances as her appointed legal custodian. She was organizing Vine’s funeral and asked Jones to come and make remarks.

“I said, ‘absolutely, but the problem is when I consider the dates she was on active duty, that makes her a World War II veteran,’ “he said. “‘We have to do a better job than this.’ “

It was only four days between when Jones learned of Vine’s death and the funeral, but word spread quickly in that short span. Veterans from every branch of the military, of different ranks, race and gender, came out.