It was two hours before Gloria Molina’s funeral, but the various patches of the blanket that had been her life were already forming outside Resurrection Catholic Church in Boyle Heights.

Here came the politicians past and present: former Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and former LA Councilman Gil Cedillo. Supervisor Kathryn Barger, US Senator.

ator

Alex Padilla, Assembly members Wendy Carrillo and Miguel Santiago.

On the parkinglot

Saturday

were her nine siblings and cousins ​​over 50, most wearing her favorite color, purple.

Standing in front of the steps of Resurrection was a group of Molinistas, the nickname given to herself by alumni of her decades-long career in Sacramento, City Hall, and the Hall of Administration.

We talk about her legacy all the time and how we bring it into all of our work, said Norma Edith Garca-Gonzlez, director of the LA County Department of Parks and Recreation.

HER BUSINESS CARD HAS THE ACCENTS

Half a dozen women with her

Everything

nodded and smiled. Garca-Gonzlez then lifted a beautiful bag made from a Virgin of Guadalupe print pattern that Molina sewed for her in 2005.

gente

was something she knew intrinsically. So we always say, what would Gloria think?

The church doors opened and people poured into the foyer. They picked up a program outlined in purple detailing many of Molina’s accomplishments. mounting member. councillor. Manager. Photo collages were on easels. Among the hundreds of candids that spanned her life from childhood to retirement were one-word slogans. feminist. Abuelita. friends Leader. glory!

EXCLAMATION MARK IN ORIGINAL

More parts of Molina’s life emerged, as her former staffers directed people to their seats and took calls from latecomers and absentees. In a row of pews in the back sat members of The East Los Angeles Stitchers, the quilting group Molina co-founded more than a decade ago. They are busy completing the 300 projects she left behind when she died of cancer on May 14 at the age of 74.

Once I got to know her, I never saw her as one

politics

said Maria Morales. She was just one of us.

Laura Ayala reminded Morales of how Molina would give the Stitchers so many projects that members would complain about the workload. The two laughed.

And she would look at us, with that look she gives people when she’s not happy, Ayala continued. And she said, Did you follow the directions? If you do, it won’t be too much work!’

There were people like Alma Rodriguez, an old parishioner with no direct connection to Molina, but who showed up anyway to express gratitude.

She supported us here and helped wherever she could, Rodriguez said, playing with the chain on her glasses. Her career was beautiful and lovely.

Chicano royalty arrived: Edward James Olmos, Dolores Huerta. Artists like Culture Clash’s Richard Montoya and playwright Dan Guerrero, who wore an ensemble of a purple tie, purple shirt, purple-lined jacket, and purple Taco Bell socks.

Purple is also my favorite color so this was easy! he said laughing. He told me about Molina’s explanation for how she came first in so many things.

You must have a fire in your belly, which is her answer. Guerrero stood on that line and repeated it one more time. Gloria, he concluded, was Superwoman in purple.

Molina’s family gathered in the foyer. Five of her siblings carried a glass box containing a purple urn with their sister’s

ash. Greetings to them were the pastor of Resurrection, John Moretta. He had married Molina and baptized her daughter Valentina, as well as Valentina’s son Santiago.

Today he would lead Molina’s farewell.

All-female mariachi Las Colibri filled the packed church with powerful renditions of Spanish-language devotional songs as Molina’s family made their way to the altar. They left her cremains for several wreaths and a picture of her, with a smile as radiant as the white lily she held and the purple streak in her hair.

The gospel for the service was the beatitudes, the exhortations of Jesus to his disciples to stand with the oppressed, which Molina practiced throughout her career:

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth, Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled

.

Moretta and Molina went back decades to when she and others managed to stop the construction of a prison on the east side. He reminded everyone that her first name is a form of praise used in Catholic liturgy and befitting a woman who has long fought for her constituents. She was a blessing,” Moretta said. “She was our Gloria.”

The pastor mentioned Molina’s insistence that Santiago be baptized. She was looking forward to meeting Ximena, Valentina’s unborn daughter, who is due in July.

She will see her next grandchild, the priest told everyone. Not from Mount Washington” where she lived and died surrounded by family, “but from a higher mountain.

Hey just stopped. God bless.

A series of eulogies followed communion. First was Valentina. With a smile and a tear, she focused on the loving gestures my best friend had done for her daughter from childhood to her last breath. Hand-sewn Halloween costumes through high school. How to score bargains. Elaborate Easter baskets she made for Valentina until Santiago was born, after which he began to receive them.

She teased me that I turned out just like her, she said. Just a little clearer and neater. I just hope I will continue to make her proud.”

Gloria’s sister, Bertha Molina Mejia, told alternate family stories that made the audience cry and think. Like that time when their sister bought Irma candy with the money set aside to pay the family’s bills, and a young Molina went to the liquor store and haggled for the money, except for the cost of the two candies Irma had eaten. Or when Molina, now an adult, was able to buy her father a car.

She made the most famous stubborn strong man I made me cry, said Molina Mejia. If you see pictures of every step of her political career, my mom and dad were on stage, and we were [siblings] were there to encourage her.

Antonia Hernandez, arguing for the redistricting lawsuit that allowed Molina to win her supervising race, spoke of the challenges the two faced as they forever changed Latino politics in California and beyond, while depending on each other “for everything” .

Molina’s husband, Ron Martinez, shared how he’d suggested her funeral be held at Our Lady’s Cathedral of the Angels, the main hall in the center.

The very stubborn Gloria rejected my suggestion, Martinez deadpanned.

La Marisoul and Pepe Carlos, the full-throated lead singer and guitarist of La Santa Cecilia, delivered a breathtaking rendition of Gracias a la Vida, a South American classic about a woman’s love and devotion.

La Marisoul

ended by repeating the title four times, like a mantra. Eyes tears like

she

whispered, spent,

Gracias, Gloria

.

Father Moretta told everyone to go in peace, and Las Colibri began to play Amor Eterno, Juan Gabriel’s tearjerker about a mother gone too soon, now a standard at Mexican-American funerals.

Molina’s family walked down the aisle with her cremains, and people started reaching for their tissues again.

But the crowd must have collectively remembered something Bertha had said earlier, citing Gloria’s reaction to the news of her illness: Don’t worry or be sad for me. I’ve lived a great life.

Someone clapped, then someone else. Then everyone. A final ovation, for everyone’s glory.