(Seguin) – Frank Thomas, U.S. Army Military Veteran, of Woodville, Texas died in 2003. Shortly after, an urn containing his ashes was discovered and pulled out of a trash can. Until this week, those ashes sat unclaimed for 18 years. However, thanks to a group of veterans here in Seguin, Thomas is now in the hands of his beloved daughter Ashley Torrez.
After searching for the rightful owner, members of the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) Doug Herrle Chapter #61, were not only able to reunite Thomas with his family but also honor their fallen brother the way he deserves. Torrez, who is from Kingman, AZ. traveled to Seguin for a special ceremony on Tuesday outside the DAV office on North Vaughan Street.
Torrez says she can’t believe how her father’s story has unfolded – a story that first began with a phone call made to her husband.
“He just wrote down the information really quickly. He came home. He told me about it. At first, it didn’t seem right. So, we started googling. Is it a scam like maybe they wanted us to pay to have his ashes sent back? We had no idea of what was going on. He sent us a video of how they do try to reunite their veterans and so that made sense to us. Basically, he sent us the email chain of how it was all connected and it showed that he was put in the trash. Her, I guess, son-in-law, I believe, took him out and then it just made more and more sense,” said Torrez.
That search to reunite Torrez with her father’s remains was led by DAV member Jaime Cervantes. Cervantes says it was through outreach efforts that he is involved with that he first learned of the urn. He says through a partnership with the Caldwell County Jail, Cervantes was approached by Lt. Tony Hardy who was seeking suggestions as to what to do. It was then that Cervantes knew that he had to search for the rightful owner.
“Initially, it was to place him at Fort Sam, at our national cemetery but through Goetz Funeral Home, they gave me a resource called “Missing in America Project” and through that, they locate veterans all over the country, all over the world I think but I got a hold of (a) Mr. Clyde. We got a hold of him and in the morning, I finally made a contact with him. By afternoon, he came back and said he has three children and he said he was going to contact every one of them and that’s when he contacted Ashley and the rest, we just started putting everything together for her to be able to come up here and be able to set up at least the final ceremony for our brother because as far as we know, he never had anything,” said Cervantes.
During the ceremony, Torrez was joined on the front row with her sons Anakin 13 and Kaiden 10. For the boys, this was the first time that they were able to learn even more about their grandfather.
Torrez says not only was he an honorable man, he was more importantly a great father.
“He was older. So, he had me when he was 59, almost 60. We never fought. We had a beautiful relationship. I was his little girl. I lived with him. My parents were not together so I would go back and forth. He had asbestos in his lungs so when he did end up passing away, it was probably the size of a grapefruit. I was at the hospital every day. It was my senior year of high school, so I was up there because they took him into Houston. The last, he was getting a little better, so they were allowing him to be transported back to Woodville and that’s when he didn’t make it on the way. I went to his funeral in 2003,” said Torrez.
While there was disappointment of learning that the urn was found in the trash, Torrez says it will be the value that Seguin has for its veterans that will always be remembered.
“I was never angry. I mean I was a little upset at first because I was like she could have gotten a hold of (me). She has our information. But, when I started to tell other people, they were angry for me and I’m like right now, I’m not even worried about that. I’m just more grateful for the opportunity to go get him,” said Torrez.
As for the individual who pulled the urn out of the trash, Torrez says thank you.
“Hopefully, any human being would have that decency to not allow that to happen so that’s great. I’m so thankful that he did the right thing in that moment and he took the time. That’s effort too. That’s effort and action to take him somewhere, research where he needed to go,” said Torrez.
She says this week’s ceremony was yet another tribute for a man who lived a good life and knows her father would be proud.
“(He) was a hard worker and that’s where I learned a lot of my work ethic. He wanted to help anyone. He had great, high spirits, just happy. He wanted to make people laugh all the time. He was just fun to be around. You wanted to be around him,” said Torrez.
Torrez, who today, is on her way back home says she will always cherish her trip to Seguin and will remember its community of veterans for going above and beyond to honor her father.
“I appreciate everything because everyone here is going out of their way. They don’t necessarily need to do that but again, just the gratitude and appreciation that I have for everything that is going on, it’s pretty amazing. So, it feels good. Again, I’m just so thankful,” said Torrez.
DAV Commander Rick Pena says he was proud to be a part of this family reunion. He says he was especially proud to see Thomas’ grandsons in attendance. He told the boys that if anyone ever asked about their grandfather, all they would have to say is that he was a veteran.
“To see this closure for Ashley and her sons who never knew their grandfather is amazing. This was an amazing feat that we were able to accomplish thanks to Jaime’s efforts and the organization that he worked with. We were just happy that we were able to do it. Seeing her eyes light up that she has her father to take back home is a great feeling. It makes it worth what we are doing. We don’t think twice. We are here for the veteran. We are here for each other,” said Pena.
During the ceremony, Torrez was presented with not only her father’s urn but also with an American flag and other gifts to commemorate his service and love for his country.