SAN ANTONIO – While many paid their respects at the funeral mass for the late Archbishop Patrick Flores, some chose to show their support in the community where he touched many lives by lining up along the procession route.
The route traveled along the city's West Side from Flores Street to Guadalupe Street and ended at San Fernando Catholic Cemetery on Castroville Road.
For Gloria Soto Perez, with Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, it was a last chance to say goodbye to the late archbishop.
"I'm sorry, but I couldn't contain my tears," Perez said. "He was a great man and we are here for him."
Members of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church braved the rain and the cold and lined up along Guadalupe Street to get a glimpse of the procession and to offer prayers.
"He's a very devout man and he deserves all the recognition and respect each and everyone has given him,"
Yolanda Uresti said, a member of the Guadalupanas. "The whole Catholic community in the city is here for him and will always be there for him."
Flores led the San Antonio Archdiocese from 1979 to 2004.
He was the first Mexican American in the US to rise to such a high ranking position within the Catholic Church, but for the people along the procession route, especially those who had met him, said they are going to miss him.
"He was a good man," Frank Sarabia said. "I enjoyed talking to him. He was always making wisecracks to get your attention."