Thousands Attend Burial of 17 Tornado Victims

Thousands of people joined the surviving residents of this little town Tuesday as they buried 17 of the 29 people killed by the tornado that destroyed their community.

President Reagan issued a disaster declaration Tuesday to make federal aid available. The Red Cross had received almost half a million dollars in pledges of donations.

“Today we bid farewell to men and women who loved Jesus and his church and who loved their family and would die for their children. . . . They will be missed,” said Roman Catholic Bishop Raymond Pena of the El Paso diocese, who said Mass from the back of a flatbed truck.

The tornado struck Friday night during a graduation ceremony for preschool pupils. Parents pulled their children from the stage and tried to shelter them under tables and chairs, but six children were among the dead.

Scores of pallbearers carried 16 coffins, one holding the bodies of a mother and her baby, and set them in two neat rows for the funeral Mass. Later, 12 coffins were lowered into the ground in the Saragosa cemetery; four were buried later in nearby Balmorhea.

An American Red Cross spokeswoman said pledges of donations totaling $470,000 from 12,700 people had been received through its toll-free phone number.

And Reagan’s disaster declaration means some residents of the Mexican-American farming community of 350 are eligible for low-interest home loans and other housing assistance.

Gov. Bill Clements visited the town and said: “While it will be difficult and painful for the people of Saragosa to literally rebuild their lives, I hope news of this declaration from the President will somehow comfort survivors.”