MARANA, Ariz.—Once, Memorial Day weekend held a different meaning and purpose for Diana Espinosa of Tucson, Arizona.
Before her husband Ernest passed away at age 58, it was a time to travel as a couple to San Carlos, Mexico, and celebrate the annual family reunion with joy and laughter, not pain and sorrow.
Those special holidays spent together are gone now.
Under a perfect azure sky, Diana held her granddaughter close, then said goodbye to her beloved Ernest, standing at the foot of his grave at the Arizona Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery on May 27.
Diana Espinosa (R) and her granddaughter lay a cup of black coffee at the gravestone of Diana’s late husband, U.S. Navy veteran Ernest Arsenio Espinosa, who died Aug. 11, 2019. He was laid to rest with full military honors at the Arizona Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery in Marana, Ariz. Photo taken on May 27, 2013. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)
Two days before Memorial Day, Diana laid fresh bouquets of carnations and daisies at Ernest’s gravestone—number 1340—beside a small memorial flag wavering in the breeze….