He asked the public to his wife’s funeral because he has no family. THOUSANDS showed up to El Paso victim’s memorial.

Social media is a pretty terrible place, but every now and then there’s a story that makes it almost worth it.

Wow.

From CBS News:

The funeral home had posted about Margie Reckard’s funeral on their Facebook page, which went viral. She was one of 22 people killed when a gunman opened fire at the El Paso Walmart on August 3.

Basco was seen after the shooting crying at the memorial and clutching the cross with her name on it. He said he and Reckard had no children together and he had no family in the area.

He told the funeral home to invite anyone who wanted to come to the funeral service, and the post went viral.

And here’s what happened:

Antonio Basco stood in front of his wife’s casket for two hours Friday hugging strangers.

The El Paso man initially thought no one would show up for his wife’s visitation service. His wife, Margie Reckard, 63, was killed when a gunman opened fire at a Walmart. The couple had no relatives in the area.

Basco walked into the La Paz Faith Memorial and Spiritual Center to a storm of applause and a procession of people wanting to hug him. The building was at capacity with 400 mourners. Outside, another 700 waited in nearly 100-degree heat to pay respects, according to funeral organizers.

“People were telling me they came from different faiths, different cities. It’s just incredible how much love and support every single one of you has shown,” Reckard’s grandson, Tyler, said.

This reporter said there were thousands who attended:

Incredible. The internet and especially social media has inspired a lot of horrible terrible outcomes. But it has also helped some incredible and inspiring things come to fruition. Just like most people, you have to take the good with the bad.

Rest in peace, Margie Reckard.

UPDATE: There’s a GoFundMe for the family, you can get to it here.


Comment Policy: Please read our comment policy before making a comment. In short, please be respectful of others and do not engage in personal attacks. Otherwise we will revoke your comment privileges.