Antonio Basco has been mourning his wife Margie Reckard’s death who was one of the sufferers in the August 3, 2019 mass shooting at an El Paso Walmart.
The 61-year-old widower invited everyone to his beloved wife’s funeral. It was one of the largest funerals Texas has ever seen.
Antonio lived in it for nearly a week in the Walmart parking lot where she died. He loved his old, blue Ford Escape because it belonged to his wife’s and the couple used to share it. But hours after he buried her, someone stole and wrecked the SUV.
People started sharing photos of the smashed blue Escape on Facebook.
“W*F is wrong with people!? He just buried his wife yesterday and now this sh*t. This is the same vehicle CASA just completely serviced and repaired for him,” Vanessa Kondow, who said her husband helped tow Basco’s car back to his house, wrote on Facebook. “Share the sh*t out of this post.”
The man had become the nationally known name after the incident and employees at Casa Ford Lincoln got to know that Antonio had been living in his Escape.
He had been staying in the car without air conditioning outside the Walmart memorial, near his wife’s cross. The employees came to help him and repaired the broken AC system and replaced the tires and brakes.
The company realized that Escape had been severely damaged and Ronnie Lowenfield, who owns Casa with his three brothers, told BuzzFeed News, “we are committed to helping him in any way that we can.”
“We caught news of his vehicle being totaled and it was a natural extension for the same folks who helped the first time to call and text asking what we could do,”
The dealership knew that the vehicle is one of the memories of widower’s wife which he wants to keep.
“We had a blue Ford Escape in stock,” Lowenfield said.
“So we donated it to him so that he could have a mode of transportation and still have a connection to his wife.”
According to Buzzfeed, ”Lowenfield, Basco’s pressure washer, which he uses to make living washing cars, was also stolen. After seeing the fundraising efforts, a man from Alpine, Texas, called the dealership and said he could help.”
“This gentleman, who wanted to remain anonymous, said he would like to drive down to El Paso and donate it to Tony,” Lowenfield said.
After few days Antonio thanked strangers for their kindness and for helping him remember his wife.
“You don’t know how much this means to me,” he told the crowd of about 100 employees and their families after checking out the new car.