A sad but heartwarming story.
A man whose wife was killed in the El Paso shooting invited the community to attend her funeral because he had no other family.
He was shocked with thousands of strangers came to El Paso this weekend, to say goodbye to Margie Reckard.
The 63-year-old was killed by a gunman who opened fire at a Walmart this month.
Antonio Basco had been worried not many people would turn up to remember his wife. The couple, who met 22 years ago, led a mostly solitary life in the Texas border city and he has no other family, either.
Perches Funeral Home said in a Facebook post that Basco welcomes anyone to attend his wife’s services.
About 700 people queued to pay their respects to Margie, one of 22 people killed when a gunman opened fire at a Walmart store.
The size of the crowd was so vast that the funeral organisers had to move it to a larger facility, but even then as crowds filled out the church, more were left queuing outside and in the surrounding blocks.
“I’ve never had so much love in my life,” Basco said on Friday as he saw the crowds, who came to mourn the life of a woman they didn’t know. They supported a man they’ve never met. As one, they gave an innocent victim in a world of senseless violence the kind of tender tribute she deserved.
People flew in from all across the country to attend the service because they said Basco’s story moved them.
The funeral home received 10,000 messages and tributes, and more than 900 floral arrangements according to The New York Times.
Reckard had kids from an earlier marriage and her son Dean told The New York Times she was a loving mother. “She would have been overwhelmed to see all the love El Paso showed her.”
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