On the evening of June 6, 1999, an unknown assailant’s bullet, ripped through the door of her car striking her in the stomach instaly shattering her dreams and her life. Although a dedicated medical team made every effort to save her young life, she died at 5:25a.m. the following day. She was 20 years old.

More than 750 people attended Teresa’s funeral at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale on June 16. Many of the mourners who could not enter the church because it was filled to capacity, stood silently in the courtyard as they listened to the eulogies presented by family members and friends.

The memorial service included some of Teresa’s favorite songs performed by the Mexican American Opportunity Foundation Senior Mariachi, which was followed by a Catholic service celebrated by Fr. Paul Chacon of Our Lady of Lourdes in Tujunga. Presiding over the memorial service was the couple’s long-time friend and business associate Mario Machado.

Inge Wacker, the family’s neighbor and Teresa’s first teacher at Eagle Rock Montessori School presented a touching eulogy about her vibrant student who was also her children’s playmate. She was followed by Teresa’s favorite cousin Daniel Garcia-Pasinelli passively whom she had affectionately nicknamed jaws. Fighting back his tears, he praised his cousin as a person with “one great right hook” who was full of energy and was all about love.

Other eulogists included Rev. Norman Johnston of the First New Christian Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church, Rev. James M Lawson, Jr. of the Holman United Methodist Church and Los Angeles City Councilman Mark Ridley Thomas, who all knew Teresa from childhood through their association with her father who has served with them for the past 20 years as a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Perhaps the most moving tribute was the one delivered by her father, a longtime community and civil rights activist, who in memory of his hero Martin Luther King, dedicated his daughter’s memorial service to the advocacy of non-violence.

He concluded by saying that in life people experience two kinds of tears. They shed tears of joy and tears of sorrow. With the loss of their beloved daughter, he said we shall never experience the tears of joy at her college graduation, or the tears of joy at her wedding, or the tears of joy at the birth of our first grandchild. Our tears are those of sorrow at our daughter’s funeral.

As he stood courageously at the altar, everyone was mindful of the fact that he would be spending Father’s Day without his beloved daughter. They were also aware that these loving parents would never experience another moment of peace until the person who had slain their daughter was caught and brought to justice.

Teresa had been brought up in a caring and loving family by parents who desired only the best for their child and did everything possible to ensure that her life be a happy and meaningful one. In that they had succeeded.

Her death has touched many people who have expressed a desire to assist the family in some way. Toward that end, they suggest that anyone wanting to do something in their daughter’s memory may do so by either donating blood or making a contribution in her name to the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Red Cross. The number to call is 213- 739-5200.

EASTERN GROUP

PUBLICATIONS, INC.

E.L.A. & BEYOND By Rose Marie Soto