Schoolmates Mourn Eddie Lopez's Death

By Ann K. Williams
Staff Writer

March 3 -- As hundreds, perhaps thousands, of students quietly filled Santa Monica High School's Greek amphitheatre Thursday, the afternoon sun shone brightly and a breeze ruffled the palm trees facing the beachside school.

It could have been a rally or a concert, but for the somber silence of Eddie Lopez's many friends and classmates as they sat unmoving staring straight ahead.

They'd come to mourn and remember the fun-loving honor student gunned down in a senseless killing Tuesday night. The bullet wasn't even meant for him.

Lopez was a star athlete on a straight track to college, Samohi Principal Dr. Ilene Straus told reporters. "He was on the right track," she said. "He was doing all the right things."

(Photos by Ann K. Williams)

All the top leaders of the City and the schools turned out, shocked and subdued into near silence. Rather than trust their voices, they embraced.

"It doesn't get any sadder than this," Mayor Bob Holbrook said and shook his head.

As symphony students on stage finished a familiar hymn melody, the normally bouncy Straus stepped slowly, hesitantly to a microphone between two photos of Lopez, one in his football uniform, the other in his baseball uniform.

She kept her head down, her hands crossed in front of her. Her voice kept breaking as she extended the school's sympathy to the Lopez family.

"The entire school community grieves for the loss of a wonderful student who represented the best that Santa Monica High School stood for," she said.

"Darkness cannot put out darkness, only light can do that," Straus quoted Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

She then helped Lopez's mother light a candle. Mrs. Lopez lit another candle with hers, starting a relay that ended with all the students holding lit candles as their classmates on the stage played a Bach aria.

Lopez's friends and teammates remembered him, some with poetry, some with music. They returned again and again to his devotion to his family, especially his abuelita, and his quirky sense of humor.

"I know that he will always be watching and winking down upon us," said one.

"He was our brother, our friend, our leader and our comedian," said another.

When one of Lopez's friends asked who had known him, nearly half the students raised their hands. Mariano Reyes commemorated Lopez's life and influence in his rap song "'86 to '06", but he had to keep stopping to compose his emotions. The students applauded gently in encouragement, he thanked them, and went on. "That could have been any of us, not just Eddie," he finished. "Rest in peace, Eddie." When Lopez's baseball teammates, in their uniforms, came on stage, Mrs. Lopez began sobbing audibly. The boys wiped tears from their eyes, some covering their faces with their hands.

"Bad things happen to even the best of us," their coach said. "Don't miss your opportunity to express your love to the people you care about," he added as the team lined up and embraced Mrs. Lopez.

After a moment of complete silence -- broken only by the strangely mundane sound of rush hour traffic on Pico -- students released two cages of doves.

Mrs. Lopez wailed as they rose up, circling higher and higher. As the doves approached the sun, its brilliant aura appeared to turn the white birds black. They flew straight into the sun, disappearing as Mrs. Lopez cried out.

Pairs and clusters of weeping students embraced, too stunned to leave at the end of the ceremony. Black, brown and white, they held onto each other, united in their grief. It was like the end of Romeo and Juliet, only it was real.

A vigil in Lopez's memory will begin at 7:30 p.m., Friday March 10 -- a week away -- followed by his funeral at 10 a.m., Saturday, March 11. Both will be held at St. Monica's Catholic Church at Lincoln Boulevard and California Avenue in Santa Monica.

The Eddie Lopez Fund has been set up at First Federal Bank at 1630 Montana Avenue, (310) 399-9261, for donations to help his family.