Funeral To Be Televised For Onate High School Students
A final goodbye will take place Friday in church and on television. Funeral services for Jerry Zamarripa, the Onate High School football player who died after an alleged viscous attack with a golf club, will be broadcast for his peers, who have the option to watch it at school.
“It’s still going to be very private and it’s still going to be done respectfully,” Jo Galvan, spokesperson for the Las Cruces Public School District, said.
Family and friends will be packed into pews paying their final respects to Zamarripa, who now rests in peace, as his body arrived at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Cathedral Thursday evening for a visitation and rosary.
For fellow students who cannot physically say ?goodbye? at the funeral, the watchful eye of a camera will stream Zamarripa?s service live from the church, privately to the gym at Onate, Galvan said.
“We’ve never done this kind of situation before, but when we have this popular student at Onate and this had a lot of attention from the community, yet we don?t want to deny students leaving and going if they want to, but at the same time, we want them to be in class as soon as they can,? Galvan said.
Some in the community say it sounds like a reasonable decision, to cut down on the number of students absent from class.
“That way they don?t have to be excused from school to go to the funeral,” a woman said.
But others question where the line is drawn, should a tragic situation like this ever happen again.
“Hopefully the tax payers wouldn?t feel responsible to do this for everyone who dies,? a man said.
The Las Cruces Catholic Diocese teamed up with LCPS, and Bishop Ricardo Ramirez said he was delighted to give the word of approval for the unique, possibly precedent-setting video arrangement.
“We know that practically all the students want to come to the mass and the Cathedral can’t hold that many people,” Ramirez said. “This is a very special situation, it’s a tragic event and the sadness is shared by everyone, but we feel this is an occasion for people to learn from the experience and to understand violence doesn’t get us anywhere; it only destroys lives and brings sadness to everyone involved.?
This is not something LCPS wants to set up as a common practice, but rather, a tool that may be considered in the future, Galvan said.
“We have to take care of the whole child and sometimes that means to go beyond the classroom walls,? Galvan said.
Zamarripa?s funeral service is 10 a.m. Friday at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Cathedral.
