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SIERRA VISTA - Last Friday night, Joe Lee was talking with his father, James, about going on a fishing trip to Mexico.
The trip would have joined Joe, his wife, Lynn, and their daughter with James and his wife of six weeks, Emilia, for a few days of enjoyment. Emilia was born in Mexico.
Joe said he and his family were going to drive from their home in Farmington, N.M., and pick up his father and his new bride.
 Joe Lee, left, and Christian Lee help carry the coffin of James Lee, who was killed Saturday in a major accident on Highway 90 near Fort Huachuca's East Gate, after a Mass at St. Andrew Catholic Church in Sierra Vista on Thursday. Joe Lee is the son of James Lee, and Christian Lee, is a grandson, whose father is another son of James Lee. (Ed Honda-Herald/Review) |
Joe and family, as well as other members of the Lee family, did come to Sierra Vista. But they were not to go fishing with James and Emilia.
Instead, they will bury the couple today at 10 a.m. at the Southern Arizona Veterans Memorial Cemetery.
For Tony Guthrie, Emilia's son, the joining of the two families - the Lees and the Guthries - went into overdrive since Saturday.
Joe said his father was the type of person who reached out to help others. On more than one occasion, his dad would help a neighbor do home repairs. Most times, the person being helped was younger than his father, who was 75.
Lynn said she was excited about obtaining some of Emilia's recipes.
"She was a great cook," she said.
As for James, Joe said, "His life changed when he met her (Emilia)."
Tony spoke about the way his mother helped others and "how much she loved James."
Emilia was 71 when she and James died together in a horrific accident Saturday. In the accident, a speeding, stolen pickup truck full of illegal immigrants crashed into nine other vehicles waiting to make a left turn off Highway 90 onto the Highway 90 Bypass near Fort Huachuca's East Gate.
Tony said his mother was a person who never hesitated to volunteer, especially when it came to supporting her faith while attending St. Andrew the Apostle Roman Catholic Church.
As much as she helped others in the church, Tony said she didn't hesitate to ask the congregation to pray for her grandson, a Marine who was in Iraq.
When he spoke to nearly 300 people who nearly filled the sanctuary Thursday afternoon for the Mass of Christian Burial, the Rev. Gregory Adolf, the church's pastor, mentioned Emilia's penchant for asking for prayers for her Marine grandson, Pfc. Jonathan Guthrie.
If the church had a nickel for every prayer that was said for Emilia's grandson, the church would be rich, Adolf said as he pointed to the Marine sitting in the congregation in his uniform.
The couple's coffins were in front of the alter during the Mass. James' coffin was draped in an American flag because he was an Army veteran. A white cloth was over Emilia's.
Adolf blessed each coffin with holy water, symbolically recognizing their baptism.
Referring to the accident, the priest said everyone is overwhelmed by what happened on Saturday.
There are many "why" questions, some of which will not be answered in this life. Asking why does not mean a person is leaving God, but "it's a turning toward God," Adolf said.
Standing between the two caskets, Adolf individually talked to each family, gesturing toward the families on occasion.
More than one time, the priest turned his body ever so slightly and pointed to Christ hanging on a cross behind the altar reminding the people in the sanctuary it was Christ who gave his life that others will live in heaven.
Holding up his hands and looking up. Adolf said it is Christ who guarantees James and Emilia everlasting life.
"It is faith," Adolf said.
Even Christ asked why of his father, while he was hanging on he cross, the pastor said.
"My God, My God why?" Adolf said Christ used, repeating those words found in the New Testament.
Christ knew his death would be the way to everlasting life and joy through eventual resurrection of those who believed in him, Adolf said.
It doesn't mean people who lose loved ones do not experience pain, he said.
"We do not shrug it off, pain is too deep," the priest said. "Until we see them again, there will be holes in our hearts, aching moments, which, too, are signs of faith."
The joy Emilia and James gave to so many should be remembered, and happiness is waiting for those who will be resurrected with them in the future, Adolf said.
Their deaths were tragic, but they were not the work "of a killer God, a destroyer God," he said.
Death does not have the last word, for that is left to God, Adolf said.
Emilia and James are generously, joyfully and gratefully in heaven, the priest said.
Like many others in the community, Adolf said he could not think of only one dying that day of death and destruction.
"Their love of each other was complete, whole, happy" Adolf said, adding God is holding them in the palms of his hands.
While the priest's message of salvation and resurrection was upbeat, there was no stopping the flow of tears as the congregation filed out of the church.
Gray skies and falling rain added to the sorrow, as people hugged the loved ones of Emilia and James.
Even in sadness, the dark day was occasionally filled with bright smiles on tear-stained faces as short stories about Emilia's and James' kindness were told.
These were ways of filling in the holes of the hearts of those who survive the couple, as Adolf alluded to.
SENIOR REPORTER Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615 or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.
nicole ray wrote on Jun 21, 2009 3:35 PM: