Precious D's Pearls for Swine

My Uncle Benny

I’ve been out of town for a few days. We had to go to a funeral. My father’s adopted brother Benny Lopez was murdered in Albuquerque, NM at around 6 am, Thursday, August 18. He was apparently shot by a mentally ill man named John Hyde who was off his medication. Hyde went on to kill two motorcycle shop workers and two policemen over the course of the day. Hyde is now in custody. He has been positively linked to all five murders through the weapon, a rare handgun. Details of events and motive (if any) are still sketchy. But there seems to be no doubt that Hyde is the man responsible. Of course formalities must be observed. The whole thing is a huge story in Albuquerque.

Just to make sure there is no confusion, one of MY brothers is also named Ben. He is fine.

Benny’s mother died when he was young. His father traveled a lot so he left Benny in the care of his aunt, Annie. She was married at the time to my grandfather, Joe Lopez. They adopted him and that’s how he came to be Dad’s brother. They continued to regard each other as brothers even after Grandfather and Annie got divorced. We only learned this week that Benny’s birth name was Lopez as well.

Though Benny had no full blood siblings, through various remarriages, adoptions, and foster arrangements, he came to have twenty people he regarded as siblings. They all loved him very much. He was highly regarded by friends and coworkers.

Uncle Benny worked for the NM Department of Transportation. He was considered to have died on the job since that’s where he was when he got shot. The whole Albuquerque division was given the day off for the funeral and the State Secretary of Transportation was there. Benny was a Vietnam vet, so he was buried in the national cemetery in Santa Fe with full military honors. The procession was quite long.

I'm sorry to say I din't not know Benny well. I only remember meeting him once when Grandfather was dying. I'm told I met him several times when I was a child, but I don't remember.

posted by Dominic @ 3:03 PM