Smaller caskets are rarely stocked in bulk. It was possible that on-time deliveries for grieving families whose funeral services would start within a week would be jeopardized by the order from the manufacturer in Georgia.
The manufacturer worked for 20 hours to get the orders out on time. He hired a Texas trucking company to take him from Texas to Georgia and back. The delivery arrived at 2 a.m. Billy and his father worked non-stop on Friday, getting only a couple of hours of sleep. The father and son usually manage the shop alone, but as many as a dozen people volunteered to help paint, sand, and apply vinyl to the child-size caskets.
The crew was going to Uvalde to donate eight completed caskets by Saturday. The remaining caskets are expected to be delivered on Sunday. He prepared 19 caskets for Uvalde victims, of which 18 were for children and one adult.
It has been an extremely emotional roller coaster for me. I haven't yelled at all, but I'm losing my voice.
About 11 years ago, he traded building custom cars for the casket business. His son joined him. Five years ago, when a different shooter killed 26 churchgoers in Texas, this massive undertaking was similar to it. Their work for those families left them exhausted, but with the hope that they had taken on some of the burden of those burying a child.
Families try to get a sense of the person's interests if they don't have a specific request. Standard-size caskets have been molded into the shape of 57 Chevys and children's size ones have been transformed into Batmobiles. The Uvalde residents were offered their services for free by the Ganems.
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