Mourners remember boy with 'star quality'

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Hundreds of mourners, 30 of them children, gathered in a red brick church in Arlington yesterday to say goodbye to Harrison Orosco, the second child to die from injuries suffered in last week's school bus accident.

As a lone bell tolled, seven pallbearers placed the white casket at the front of the church before the funeral Mass. Harrison's mother, Marisol Gonzalez, broke away from her family, draped herself over the tiny coffin and wept for several minutes, quietly uttering her son's name.

Harrison "had star quality," said the Rev. Gerard Creedon, who celebrated part of the funeral Mass at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church. "He expressed that in his faith and in sports."

Harrison, 7, died Wednesday from injuries he suffered April 18 when the school bus he was riding collided head-on with a garbage truck at the intersection of Columbia Pike and South Courthouse Road in Arlington. The school bus had picked up more than a dozen children and was headed to Hoffman-Boston Elementary School.

Lilibeth Gomez, a 9-year-old third-grader, was killed on impact.

Harrison, a second-grader who was baptized in 2002, was taking catechism classes at the church in preparation for his first Holy Communion next month.

Father Creedon visited Harrison's family on Sunday to prepare for the funeral.

"Obviously, they are in shock and stressed," Father Creedon said. "They're coping as best they can."

The church parishioners, many of whom attended the funeral, had set up an altar honoring Harrison in the family's home. They also are bringing the family meals and offering spiritual support and counseling, Father Creedon said.

Several Arlington Public Schools officials and teachers attended the funeral.