A half-dozen caskets were arranged in a semi-circle at Our Lady of Tepeyac church, the smallest for 3-month-old Amayah Almaraz.
Mourners from across the Chicago area poured into a Little Village church Saturday morning to pay respects to six of the 10 children killed in a horrific fire last weekend in the Southwest Side neighborhood.
A half-dozen white caskets arranged in a semi-circle stood in front of the pews at Our Lady of Tepeyac church, the smallest in the middle holding the remains of little Amayah Almaraz, only 3 months old.
On a gloomy, rainy Saturday, family members sporting white T-shirts bearing airbrushed names of the deceased joined friends and supporters at the church, just two blocks away from where the blaze broke out Aug. 26 at 2224 S. Sacramento Ave.
They were there to remember siblings Nathan Contreras, 13; Cesar Contreras, 14; Xavier Contreras, 11; Ariel Garcia, 5; and Amayah; and their cousin, Adrian Hernandez, 14.
The children had been at a sleepover in a two-bedroom coach house when the fire started about 4 a.m. Authorities are still trying to pin down the cause. City officials on Friday hit the building’s owner with a slew of code violations.
Community members with no direct ties to the family came out for the memorial service, some from farther away, saying they were moved to attend after learning about the gravity of the tragedy.
Imelda Arias said she traveled from Berwyn at 7 a.m.
“I hope that the tragedy that happened here in this community never happens again,” she said in Spanish.
Services for the four additional victims — siblings Giovanni Ayala, 10; Gialanni Ayala, 5; and Alanni Ayala, 3; and friend Victor Mendoza, 16 — are pending.
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