Mission Bells Toll for Patriarch : Funeral: Hundreds pay last respects to Paul Arbiso, who came to symbolize San Juan Capistrano during more than 60 years of ringing in the swallows. ‘San Juan’s loss is heaven’s gain,’ one admirer says.

The mission bells rang Saturday for the man who sounded them for more than 60 years.

Hundreds of people gathered at the Mission San Juan to say goodby to Paul Arbiso, the city’s beloved patriarch and the bell ringer who welcomed home the swallows each spring. Arbiso died last week at age 99.

Mourners overflowed the mission’s tiny Serra Chapel, pausing after the service to listen as the huge iron bells were sounded by Arbiso’s grandson, Michael Gastelum, the new bell ringer.

“It felt empty, very empty,” Gastelum said. “But then it also felt like he was here with me.”

Arbiso received all the pomp and circumstance accorded the passing of the town patriarch, a title granted to the resident who most exemplifies San Juan Capistrano’s frontier spirit.

His casket was placed on a wagon decorated with flowers and pulled by two white horses about half a mile to the mission cemetery. A procession of family and friends followed along Ortega Highway.

“This is the largest turnout I can ever remember for a funeral in this town,” said city Historical Society President Tony Forrester, whose rancher family moved to San Juan Capistrano in the early 1800s. “San Juan’s loss is heaven’s gain.”

For more than 60 years, Arbiso rang the mission bells, sounding the patterns that announced deaths, births and the annual return of the city’s most famous residents, the swallows.

Arbiso also was responsible for cultivating the beauty of another one of the city’s most famous landmarks, the Mission San Juan rose gardens.

Those duties were lifelong labors of love for the Juaneno Indian, who grew up playing in the mission stables. Even after retiring from tending the gardens at 93, Arbiso looked in on his beloved roses every Sunday after attending Mass.

He never gave up bell ringing. Arbiso welcomed back the swallows last March at age 98.

“His death means the end of an era,” said Bob Dunn, a close friend and neighbor of Arbiso’s. “He was born a few years after the first railroad came through San Juan, saw the first motorcar and witnessed the first man on the moon.”

“This man was born into a time we can only see in black-and-white Hollywood movies,” Dunn said.

Arbiso was constantly in demand for his historical knowledge of the mission and the city. But he was also renowned for possessing a calm, gentle spirit.

After retirement, “he had a habit of giving roses to people,” Msgr. Paul Martin told the assembly during a 90-minute funeral service. “He’d snip a rose and give it to someone to make their day a little brighter.”

Arbiso remained active, going to church every Sunday. He was also a familiar sight downtown, occasionally ending up in the Swallows Inn saloon to indulge in an glass of red wine.

Arbiso was proud of living a clean life, crediting a life of abstinence--no smoking, swearing or fighting--for his longevity.

“He was a person who embodied all that is good in San Juan Capistrano,” Martin said. “He truly made the title of patriarch more than an honorary title.”

After the service, Forrester shook his head as he looked over the crowd. His historical society has the sad duty of choosing a new patriarch.

“The potential candidates have grown fewer and fewer,” Forrester said. “I don’t think we’ll ever have anyone like Paul again.”