Tears of rain flowed from the sky Wednesday as friends and
family said goodbye to 18-year-old Paul Jacob Galvan.
More than 1,000 people filled St. Benedict Church, lining up at
the open casket to smile at Galvan one more time and pay their
respects to his parents at a Mass and rosary service Wednesday
night.
Galvan was attending Gavilan College at the time of his
death.
”
We offer memories of our brethren. It’s our way of giving him a
great big hug,
”
Father Rudy Ruiz said.
”
We feel peace knowing P.J.’s at peace.
”
Tears of rain flowed from the sky Wednesday as friends and family said goodbye to 18-year-old Paul Jacob Galvan.
More than 1,000 people filled St. Benedict Church, lining up at the open casket to smile at Galvan one more time and pay their respects to his parents at a Mass and rosary service Wednesday night.
Galvan was attending Gavilan College at the time of his death.
“We offer memories of our brethren. It’s our way of giving him a great big hug,” Father Rudy Ruiz said. “We feel peace knowing P.J.’s at peace.”
As people stood around the walls of the church, classmates and teammates hugged in groups, their heads touching as they cried for their friend and for their loss.
During the Mass, Ruiz spoke of the stages of grieving – denial, bargaining, depression, anger and acceptance.
“We lose our sense of peace. There’s a process we have to experience before we ever experience peace again,” he said.
Ruiz urged everyone to finish things P.J. did not and to learn from his tragic death. With the death of Galvan and Matthew Lopez, maybe 50 or 100 kids will live because they learned from them, he said.
After Ruiz’s remarks, communion was offered. Afterwards, family members and friends read poems and shared their memories of Galvan.
One classmate said the sentence “P.J. would …” could be finished with anything. He recalled how Galvan loved to drive, especially with the windows down.
Another friend said Galvan was up in heaven right now, dancing and singing to country music.
“He’s probably trying to line dance,” he said with smiles from the audience.
San Benito High School senior Ty Doty attended the service to pay his respects to Galvan, because Galvan would have done the same, he said.
“I’ll never give P.J. a hug again,” Doty said. “He was just so involved and such a great guy that everybody knew him. He had an impact on everybody’s life.”
Even though Galvan died at a young age, his friends and family have memories of him to help them mourn and fill the void.
One of Doty’s fondest memories is of Galvan trying to hold Doty on his shoulders. Their friends waited to catch Doty, which they did when he fell, Doty said with a smile.
Ryan Andrade, a junior at SBHS, thinks of Galvan as an older brother. He remembered cramming six people into a little Volvo and driving back from an SBHS basketball game in San Jose.
“I’m happy P.J.’s watching over us and in a better place,” Andrade said. “If he’s at peace, I’m at peace.”
Not many were surprised by the number of people that attended the service, for Galvan touched many lives, they said.
“P.J. was the kind of person that, even if you didn’t know him very well, you felt like you did,” Andrade said.
Despite it all, Ruiz reminded people that love is more powerful than death.
“He’s closer to you now than ever before – it’s because he’s in your heart,” Ruiz said.
