Services held for Streamwood girl killed in Long Grove crash
Hundreds of mourners poured into Mission San Juan Diego Catholic Church on Saturday, including parents who seemed to hug their children just a little tighter.
They filled the church to capacity as they came for the funeral of 14-year-old Lilia Corina Bueno, of Streamwood, who was killed in a car crash in Long Grove on Monday, along with 15-year-old Daniel Vicario, who was driving.
The three passengers in the car, Palatine siblings Martin Solis, 15, Luis Solis, 13, and Yareli Mendoza-Solis, 8, were released early Wednesday from Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge.
A cousin of Bueno's, Maria Herrera of Elgin, thanked mourners as they entered the church.
Privately, she said the family has found great comfort in all the people who have supported them since the accident, including the hundreds of mourners who attended her wake on Friday in Palatine.
"This has been devastating for the family. It was the worst phone call you could ever imagine," Herrera said. "You raise your children the right way and just hope they make the right decisions."
Bueno was the seventh of 10 children, whose family had recently moved to Streamwood from Palatine.
"We're such a large family," Herrera added. "Nothing like this has ever happened to us before."
A mariachi band led the procession of pallbearers who escorted Bueno's casket into the church. The sanctuary was draped in purple, a traditional color to mark the first weekend of Advent, when the congregation prepares for Christmas.
The Rev. Carlos Monsalve, an associate priest at Mission San Juan Diego, served as the main celebrant of the 90-minute funeral Mass.
"There are no words to express, at times like these," Monsalve said in opening his sermon. "The pain is so strong that searching for an explanation only increases our pain.
"All we know is that death is a mystery," Monsalve continued, "as is life."
Mourners leaving the funeral found another musical group featuring brass and percussion instruments playing as they came out of church.
"In our culture, we accompany the dead with a lot of music," said lector Daniel Reyes, of Mission San Juan Diego. "We think of it more as a celebration of their life."