Apr 3, 2007 8:47 pm US/Mountain
Family Says Goodbye To Rosemary Rosales
by Shaun Boyd
HOLLY, Colo (CBS4) ―
More than 100 people filtered in and out of the small funeral home in Holly where the family held the public viewing for Rosemary Rosales. There were flowers, hugs and tears as they remembered the mother whose life was cut short by a tornado.
Members of Rosemary's large family came in from as far away as Chicago, San Diego, Dallas and Mexico. Most of them were too distraught to even speak.
The storm ripped Rosemary out of her husband's arms and threw her into a tree, where family members have now built a makeshift memorial.
Rosales had a seven-year-old son and three-year-old daughter. Her son was staying with relatives when the twister touched down. Her daughter, and her common-law husband, Gustavo Puga, were injured.
Tuesday, a cousin told CBS4 of Rosemary's final moments with her husband.
"Right before his wife passed away, he told her, 'Don't leave, because I'm going to ask you to marry me,'" Rosemary's cousin Daniel Silva said of Gustavo. "I think he's going to be okay. It's going to take a little time to get over it."
Cousin Joseph Rosales said Gustavo was holding onto both Rosemary and his daughter but the tornado was just too much.
"He couldn't hold both of them," Joseph said. "But he kept the little one."
Joseph said Rosemary probably wouldn't have wanted it any other way.
The family held a rosary service Tuesday evening at Saint Frances of Rome Church in Holly. The funeral is Wednesday.
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