1,000 say goodbye to 10 victims of flash flood

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — To the strains of “Ave Maria,” more than 1,000 people said goodbye Tuesday to 10 members of an extended family who lost their lives in a flash flood while celebrating a birthday in Arizona.

The 10 white caskets belonging to three generations of a Mexican immigrant family were arranged in two rows facing the altar at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Scottsdale.

They died in seconds when a dark torrent of water rushed through a placid swimming hole on July 15, killing a grandmother, aunts and uncles, children and grandchildren.

Two male soloists sang Schubert’s traditional song at a funeral Mass celebrated in English and Spanish that was surprisingly upbeat. The Rev. Eric Tellez remembered the family as hardworking people, many of whom worked in the restaurant industry.

His co-officiant was the Rev. Ed Lucero, a priest in the central Arizona town of Payson close to where the family died.

Hector Miguel Garnica, 26, was the last to be found and was positively identified just in time to be included.

His wife, Maria del Carmen Raya Garcia, was killed as they celebrated her 27th birthday, along with their three small children; Hector Daniel, 7, Mia, 5, and Emily, 3.

Also killed was Raya Garcia’s mother, Selia Garcia Castaneda, 57; Raya Garcia’s brother Javier Raya Garcia, 19; her sister Maribel Raya Garcia, 24; Maribel’s daughter Erika Janel Camacho Raya, 2; and Jonatan Leon Villanueva, a grandson of Selia Garcia, who would have turned 13 next month.

The group was swept away when a flash flood from a thunderstorm upstream rushed through the swimming area. Authorities have said the family had no warning.