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Hundreds of strangers come to honor El Paso victim

Flowers, music flood in for woman with few friends

By AMIE STENGLE and RUSSELL CONTRERAS, Associated Press
Published: August 16, 2019, 10:32pm
3 Photos
Mourners deliver flowers on Friday, Aug. 16, 2019, for the funeral in El Paso, Texas, of Margie Reckard, 63, who was killed by a gunman in a mass shooting earlier in the month. Hundreds of strangers from El Paso and around the country came to pay their respects Friday after her husband, Antonio Basco, said he felt alone planning her funeral. He invited the world to join him in remembering his companion of 22 years.
Mourners deliver flowers on Friday, Aug. 16, 2019, for the funeral in El Paso, Texas, of Margie Reckard, 63, who was killed by a gunman in a mass shooting earlier in the month. Hundreds of strangers from El Paso and around the country came to pay their respects Friday after her husband, Antonio Basco, said he felt alone planning her funeral. He invited the world to join him in remembering his companion of 22 years. (AP Photo/Russell Contreras) Photo Gallery

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 Texas to honor a woman she had never met.

She was one of hundreds of strangers who braved 100-degree heat to pay their respects to 63-year-old Margie Reckard. Feeling heartbroken and alone after her death, Reckard’s companion of 22 years, Antonio Basco, had welcomed anyone to attend.

“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 well-wishers 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 T-shirt.

“I love y’all, man,” Basco said, before breaking down.

As the line swelled, Basco came back out to thank attendees personally for coming. People crowded around to hug and touch him. Basco appeared overwhelmed that strangers were now running toward him to show love and offer condolences.

Moments later, mariachis walked through the crowd singing “Amor Eterno,” the 1984 ballad by the late Juan Gabriel, that has become an anthem for El Paso following the shooting. Some attendees sang along. Others sobbed and got out of line.

Jason Medina, 42, of El Paso, said 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.”

Johnson, who is also a pastor, headed the service. Funeral home staff urged attendees to be patient as people began rotating in and out of the service amid scorching heat.

Reckard had children from a previous marriage who travelled from out of town to the funeral. But Johnson said that for Basco, Reckard was “his life, his soul mate, his best friend.”

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