Mourners Remember Slain Mail Carrier

The white supremacist accused of shooting Joseph Santos Ileto saw only this: a man of Asian ancestry, wearing the uniform of the United States Postal Service.

Having thus summed up his life, Buford O. Furrow allegedly fired nine bullets, killing Ileto, whom he would later describe as an easy target.

On Saturday hundreds of Ileto’s friends, family and colleagues attended his funeral, sharing their grief but also bearing witness to the life they knew--a son, brother, colleague and friend.

In voices thick with tears, they told of the man they called Jo-Jo. He was, they said, a hard worker, a master of chess, a devoted son and brother, a lover of good jokes, who laughed so hard when telling them that the listener never even heard the punch line.

His was a full life, a life that was obscured in an instant by a gunman so blind with hate he never even saw what he destroyed.

“You were shotgunned down . . . because you were an ‘easy target,’ an opportunity, a nonwhite,” said Ileto’s great-aunt, Adelaida I. Villanueva, addressing the mourners. “But each one of us in your family know that you come from a family of generals, diplomats, a simple caring family who are leaders in the community, helping others cope with life.”

The service, held at Rose Hills Memorial Park, was attended by more than 350--including scores of uniformed postal workers, each carrying a single white rose.

In a gesture that displayed the impact of the shooting on the city and the nation, the service was attended by Rabbi Lawrence Goldmark, head of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California, and by Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks), who read letters of condolence from President Clinton, Vice President Gore, and Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer.

Gore called the killing “a senseless act of violence that has shaken America.”

Furrow, an admitted white supremacist, has told authorities he gunned down Ileto, a Filipino American, after he allegedly opened fire on the North Valley Jewish Community Center, wounding three young children, a teenager and a grandmother.

While making his rounds in Chatsworth, Ileto encountered Furrow on Valley Circle Boulevard, about an hour after the shooting at the center.

According to an affidavit filed in federal court, Furrow had just finished his rampage in Granada Hills when he chanced upon the postal carrier and thought it would be a good idea to kill a nonwhite person who was a government employee.

Furrow asked Ileto to mail a letter for him, and Ileto agreed. Furrow got out of his car, then allegedly shot Ileto twice. When Ileto tried to run, Furrow shot him in the back, then watched him fall dead in the driveway of a Chatsworth home, Furrow has reportedly said. The gunman then turned and walked away.

According to an autopsy report, Ileto had been shot nine times. He was the only one of Furrow’s victims to die.

Though the manner of his death weighed heavily on the mourners, it was his life that they spoke most about Saturday.

Ileto, the oldest of five children, was born and raised in the Philippines and named after St. Joseph, the patron saint of the worker.

He emigrated from the Philippines when he was 14 years old. After graduating from Schurr High School in Montebello, he studied engineering at East Los Angeles College.

Ileto lived with his brother in Chino Hills and worked two jobs to make ends meet. His second job was with AVX Filters Corp. in Sun Valley, where he was a tester of electrical equipment.

As a part-timer worker, Ileto covered routes when other mail carriers had time off. He was substituting for a regular mail carrier when he was killed.

In the Ileto family, he was known for his willingness to help, for being reliable.

And he shared the Ileto passion for chess. He was a recognized master in chess circles and kept magazine and newspaper articles that chronicled his bouts, said his sister-in-law, Deena J. Ileto.

“Joe was known to be competitive,” she said. “He loved playing games, from Scrabble to computer games.”

The Rev. William G. Martinez officiated at the service. In between the words from friends and family, a choir from St. Brendan’s Catholic Church sang the 23rd Psalm, “Shalom, My Friends” and “Celtic Song of Farewell.”

Martinez said Ileto’s killing should cause people to reflect on life and values.

“We need to look within ourselves and say . . . what do we truly believe in, what is of value? So we truly can reach out to one another with understanding and peace, words we say every day, yet are so hard to live by.”

Last week, the flag at the post office where Ileto worked was flown at half staff. On Saturday that flag was presented to his mother.

For the postal workers who attended the funeral, the shooting marked not only the loss of a colleague and a friend, but a sad milestone in their careers.

“We’re just here to sympathize and show solidarity,” said Joselito Garcia, who works in the Van Nuys Civic Center office. “You don’t know who your enemy is. You’re there minding your own [business]. He didn’t even know. He didn’t have a chance.”

Marva Golden, a shop steward at the Northridge post office, said she was deeply hurt by the shooting. The entire staff of the Chatsworth office attended the service, exemplifying the mail carriers’ motto, “an injury to one is an injury to all.”

Furrow would have passed several carriers’ routes before he stopped at Ileto’s, driving home the point that many were close to danger.

“Now we have to worry about more things than the weather,” Golden said. “We’re public servants and we’re very recognizable. It’s something I have to think about. It’s something my family has to think about.”

At the burial, postal workers were invited to lay their flowers on the coffin bearing Ileto’s body. Sherman, who called Ileto a martyr, presented his mother with a second flag, one that flew atop Capitol Hill on July 4.

“We must have the courage to show the Buford Furrows that they cannot stop us and they cannot divide us,” Sherman said.

Villanueva, Ileto’s great-aunt, said because of his death, “the world will remember that racial hatred is a terrible thing.”

His family will remember all his life meant to them.

“I will remember his goodness.” she said. “He had goodness in his heart.”