Lines of cars make their way past to the Santa Fe National Cemetery on Tuesday for the funeral of retired Marine Sgt. Eloy Tafoya. Clyde Mueller/The New Mexican
Dozens attend a funeral service Tuesday for retired Marine Sgt. Eloy Tafoya at the Santa Fe National Cemetery. Tafoya, 60, was described by the few who knew him as a reclusive man, and he died alone in his home from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Clyde Mueller/The New Mexican
Chaplin Jose Villegas of the Santa Fe Police Department presides over funeral services Tuesday for retired Marine Sgt. Eloy Tafoya at the Santa Fe National Cemetery. Clyde Mueller/The New Mexican
Lines of cars make their way past to the Santa Fe National Cemetery on Tuesday for the funeral of retired Marine Sgt. Eloy Tafoya. Clyde Mueller/The New Mexican
Dozens attend a funeral service Tuesday for retired Marine Sgt. Eloy Tafoya at the Santa Fe National Cemetery. Tafoya, 60, was described by the few who knew him as a reclusive man, and he died alone in his home from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Clyde Mueller/The New Mexican
The streets of downtown Santa Fe shut down temporarily Tuesday to make way for the funeral procession of a reclusive former Marine who died alone in his home from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Retired Sgt. Eloy Timothy Tafoya was described as a “loner” by the few people who knew him. But his tragic death by his own hand in a Santa Fe apartment in January struck a chord with dozens of people who gathered at the Santa Fe National Cemetery in the veteran’s honor.
The funeral itself — which included dozens of uniformed military and police personnel, a motorcycle brigade, a 21-gun salute, bagpipers from the Santa Fe Police Department and a drummer from Santa Clara Pueblo — was pulled together by people from a specialty cleaning company and a funeral home who had never heard of Tafoya until they were called to clean up after his death, which was discovered Jan. 23.
