SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — To the strains of “Ave Maria,” more than 1,000 people said goodbye Tuesday to 10 members of an extended family who lost their lives in a flash flood while celebrating a birthday in Arizona.
The 10 white caskets belonging to three generations of a Mexican immigrant family were arranged in two rows facing the altar at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Scottsdale, each one bearing a metal crucifix inside its satin-lined lid.
They died together in mere seconds when a dark torrent of water rushed through a placid swimming hole on July 15, killing a grandmother, aunts and uncles, children and grandchildren.
Hector Miguel Garnica, 26, was the last family member found and was identified just in time to be included in the funeral Mass.
He and his wife, Maria del Carmen Raya Garcia, were killed as they celebrated her 27th birthday, along with their three small children: Hector Daniel, 7, Mia, 5, and Emily, 3.
The Rev. Eric Tellez remembered the family as hardworking people, with many employed in the restaurant industry preparing food for others, a pursuit the pastor likened to a ministry.
Also killed were Raya Garcia’s mother, Selia Garcia Castaneda, 57; Raya Garcia’s brother Javier Raya Garcia, 19; her sister Maribel Raya Garcia, 24; Maribel’s daughter Erika Janel Camacho Raya, 2; and Jonatan Leon Villanueva, a grandson of Selia Garcia who would have turned 13 next month.
The group was swept away when a flash flood caused by a thunderstorm upstream rushed through the swimming area. Authorities have said the family had no warning.
