Residents and shopkeepers in a tight-knit Union City neighborhood recently came together to say goodbye to a homeless man who had become a beloved member of the community.
Jose Frias, who came to the United States on a boat from Mariel Harbor in Cuba, died on a stoop on 45th Street on April 16, in the neighborhood where he spent more than two decades.
“He had always been on the block,” said Esli Latorre, a manager at Union City Florist. The business helped collect donations to pay for Frias’ funeral and burial, and donated all the flowers at the ceremony.
Latorre said she could remember seeing Frias during her childhood, when she would go with her mother to work at the shop. Her mother, Dina Oquea, would bring Frias something to eat every morning.
“He only took food and money from certain people,” said Oquea. “If he didn’t know you, he didn’t take your dollar.” She said that he never asked to know her name, but he knew her face from all the years they had seen each other.
Oquea said she believed Frias suffered from mental illness but was a very gentle, quiet man who often offered to help out the neighbors.
“Before he got very ill, he used to help everybody on Bergenline unload trucks,” said Oquea. She added that many times, she would also see Frias standing outside sports bars, looking in at their TVs, watching Giants games and shouting with every play.
“He talked a lot about the Giants,” she said. “He was a sports guy.”
Another neighbor said he remembers being able to talk to Frias about anything, but if something negative was ever said about the Giants, Frias would get very upset.
Many other people in the community did their part to take care of Frias, including a man named Frank Calmona. Calmona had come to the United States on the same boat and remembered seeing Frias.
“He used to take him home, have him take a bath, and feed him,” said Latorre.
Turn for the worse
When it got cold, people would give Frias extra clothing and make sure he had a jacket. But last winter, Frias took a turn for the worse.
“When he started getting sick, we all started watching him a little bit closer,” said Latorre. “We called an ambulance a couple of times.”
She added that he had also gotten quieter but still tried to keep up with his usual routine. “At the end, he wouldn’t talk much, but the people he knew, he talked to them all the time,” said Latorre.
Local workers band together
When Frias passed away, said Latorre, her mother could not bear the thought of him being buried without a proper goodbye from his friends. The florist and the neighboring liquor store, Kraemer’s Liquors, and several residents who knew him started collecting donations right away.
“The neighborhood really got together and made it,” said Oquea.
They soon realized they needed more help than they originally thought. A truck driver who has lived in Union City for 13 years, Adalberto Arroyo, “took it upon himself to make a difference,” said Latorre.
While at the liquor store, Arroyo asked the owner, Pedro Briones, why he was collecting money for a funeral.
“The guy told me what was going on, and he told me Jose passed away but didn’t have any family or anybody to take care of the funeral,” said Arroyo. “So, I decided to be in charge.”
Arroyo spent the next few days arranging the ceremony at Jorge Rivera Funeral Home in North Bergen and searching for a nearby burial site, which he found at Arlington Cemetery in Kearny.
Even with all the planning and all the donations, the group still came up short. When Arroyo turned to Mayor Brian Stack, the mayor delivered and donated $1,000 for Frias.
Four hundred say goodbye
At the funeral, more than 400 people came to say goodbye, said Oquea.
“He was all dressed up and he looked great,” she said.
Frias was dressed in a suit that a young woman who works at the flower shop, Vanessa Eloy, had donated. Her father, who had also known Frias, passed away five years ago, and she thought it would be fitting that Frias have one of his suits.
Frias was also buried with a boutonniere made of dollar bills and a Giants jersey someone had snuck into his coffin.
Oquea said that all of it was because the community loved Frias. Arroyo said they were happy to do the best they could for their friend.
“Some people, they don’t see it the way we see it,” said Arroyo. “They say ‘Oh, you are not supposed to do that,’ but he was a human life. We buried him like a king of Union City.”
Amanda Staab can be reached at astaab@hudsonreporter.com.