LITTLE BOY’S HERO
Grandson & cardinal honor S.I. grandma
TIMOTHY CARDINAL DOLAN was so moved by the heroism of a Staten Island grandmother who died saving her grandson from a hit-and-run driver that he came to the funeral to personally comfort her family.
Dolan also had one-on-one time with 8-yearold Brian Herrera-ramirez, telling him to cherish the memories of his loving grandmother.
Punctuating the sadness s of Tuesday’s gathering was s the enduring image of the e boy who followed on n crutches as the white coffin bearing the body of Clara Almazo was carried from m the church.
“She’s my favorite grand- ma,” Brian said.
His eyes appeared bewil- dered, but he didn’t cry. He e paused for a moment.
“Grandma’s a hero,” he e added.
Dolan said word of Alm- azo’s sacrifice for her grandson has left many in tears since the tragedy.
“I don’t think there’s s been a dry eye in the entire e archdiocese,” he said.
Hundreds of mourners gathered at Our Lady of Mount Carmel-st. Benedicta Roman Catholic Church in West Brighton, S.I. It’s the same church Almazo attended on Holy Thursday before she was struck just before 10 p.m.
“Can you imagine?” Dolan said after the service. “On the night Jesus goes to his death, on the night He says, ‘I will lay down my life for you,’ this woman coming home from Mass, where she probably heard those words, dies protecting her little 8-year-old grandson.”
The boy, who survived the wreck with a fractured foot, didn’t appear to grasp that he would never see his grandmother alive again. He barely flinched — even when one of Almazo’s heartbroken nieces suddenly draped herself over the coffin and began to wail.
Dolan, who made sure to tell Brian that he loved him, said the boy’s reaction was understandable.
“I got the impression he was a little blissful, maybe not realizing the full extent, which is God maybe protecting him,” the cardinal said. “He’s only 8 years old. I think of my nephew that’s 6.”
Almazo’s relatives said they felt honored and comforted by Dolan’s presence.
“To take his time to come over here, it was some- thing special for us,” the victim’s nephew Magdaleno Almazo, 26, said. “It makes the family feel better. We really appreciate that. We never thought it would be that important.”
Almazo, 52, raised two sons and 11 daughters, and had 23 grandchildren. The sanctuary was packed with her stunned friends and relatives.
“The life and death of our dear Clara is a great example to all of us,” Dolan said in Spanish.
As the cardinal spoke, Almazo’s children took turns hugging one another and hugging Brian.
Almazo’s daughter Sofia, 26, said, “My mother was my strength.”
“She taught me about God’s way. From when I was little, she always talked about God’s way.”
The Rev. Mark Escobar said Clara Almazo’s heroism moved them all.
“I couldn’t even articul late myself in front of the c congregation of what she did,” he said. “The act of heroism on the part of the grandmother, Clara, to save the life of her grandson, that m made a huge difference.”
Almazo was walking home from an evening service with Brian and his mother, Berta, when suddenly a speeding SUV bore down on them, police said.
Brian, in an earlier interv view at the hospital with the D Daily News, said he put his hand out and yelled “‘Stop!’ But the car didn’t listen to me.”
Almazo managed to shove Brian out of the way, and he escaped with a broken foot, police said. But the gutsy grandmother couldn’t save herself and died later at Richmond University Medical Center.
Berta Almazo was not hurt. But she told The News her mother’s death left a gaping hole in Brian’s life.
While Berta Almazo was at work, Clara Almazo made sure Brian did his homework. She cooked him his favorite meal of rice and tacos. She made sure he was safe.
Driver Brian Mcgurk sped off in his Ford Escape after the accident and surrendered three hours later — accompanied by a lawyer, police said. He was freed Saturday after posting $50,000 bail.
Almazo immigrated to New York City about 12 years ago from Oaxaca, Mexico. A devout Catholic who never missed Mass, she lived with her two generations of her brood in West Brighton.
Her family hopes to bury her back home in Mexico.