22 hearses deliver over 1,000 excess funeral flowers to El Paso shooting memorial site

Funeral homes that provided free services to the victims of the El Paso shootings conducted a ceremonial drive with excess funeral flowers Sunday morning from the La Paz Faith chapel in central El Paso to the makeshift memorial site behind the Cielo Vista Walmart store.

There were 22 hearses, representing the 22 victims of the shooting, that carried more than 1,000 floral arrangements sent by people around the world for Margie Reckard’s funeral service and burial — which were held on Friday night and Saturday.

Salvador Perches, owner of Perches Funeral Homes, organized the floral caravan which departed at 10 a.m. from La Paz Faith at 1201 North Piedras, traveled along Montana Avenue and then to Hawkins Boulevard, before ending at the memorial site.

A crowd joined in to help unload the flowers and place them at the memorial.

“I spoke with (Reckard’s) husband about the idea, and he felt this would be a fitting tribute to his wife and to the other victims,” Perches said. “Contact was then made to all of the other participating funeral homes and all of them agreed that this can serve as a gesture of unity and a sense of closure for all of the funerals that happened from this tragedy.”

Participating funeral homes that provided hearses included Perches Funeral Homes, Martin Funeral Home, Sunset Funeral Home, San Jose Funeral Home and Mt. Carmel Funeral Home.