With donations for headstone, mother finds closure after son’s death

With donations for headstone, mother finds closure after son’s death

(McCormick Family)


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WOODS CROSS — Nearly 10 years ago, Anthony Santos Jr. was shot dead by a childhood friend. With the help of strangers, his mother will finally be able to mark his grave with a headstone next Tuesday.

On Nov. 2, 2003, Santos, 19, was visiting his father when he encountered two childhood friends. Two of the men began fighting and Santos tried to break the fight up, telling the cousins to take a step back, Santos’ mother Lupe McCormick said. The youngest, a 17-year-old boy, left the scene and returned a few minutes later with a handgun, shooting Santos in the neck, according to McCormick. Santos died instantly.

“He just brought joy to anybody he came across,” McCormick said. "He brightened up the whole room with his smile. Never was sad. Never let anything bother him in life. He was just so happy and high-spirited.”

Santos, working as a roofer in Utah, was engaged and his fiancee was pregnant with a baby boy. In January 2004, Anthony Santos III was born.

“He was so excited (to become a dad). He couldn’t wait for his son to be born,” McCormick said. “He was telling me how he was starting a college fund.”

McCormick and the little boy, now age 9, are close, she said. He longs to know his father, and McCormick does all she can to share memories of her son with her grandson. He visits her every other weekend, and together, they go places her son went and look at photos of his father. McCormick has made sure Anthony has a love for the 49ers like his father did.

“I want my grandson to know everything about his dad,” McCormick said.

Despite her efforts, McCormick found herself unable to pay off the funeral expenses, even after a decade. With more than $14,000 in debt from the embalming and funeral services, she began making payments as she could afford them. Some months she could only pay $40 or $50, other months she was able to make a payment of a few hundred dollars.

In Oct. 2012, she turned to the public. Through fundraising, she has been able to pay a majority of the nearly 10-year-old bill. Her goal was to purchase a headstone for her son’s grave. Sunday, the payment that would make that purchase possible was offered by a woman from Wendover. The payment, confirmed by the cemetery Tuesday, totaled nearly $1,000. McCormick said she cried all night when she was approached about the final donation.

“It’s kind of like a dream come true. I won’t know my real feelings until I actually see the headstone myself. It’s a relief,” McCormick said.

McCormick will travel to Colma, Calif. for the headstone’s placement on Tuesday, Oct. 15.

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Celeste Tholen Rosenlof

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