In his final goodbye, Vicente Fernández’s son, fans sing ‘Volver, Volver’
TLAJOMULCO DE ZÚÑIGA, Jalisco — The “Gran Charro de Huentitán", Don Vicente Fernández, left for his last resting place, like all the great ones do: surrounded by the love of his family and closest friends, and that of his beloved fans.
Thousands of people crowded the VFG Arena, located just outside Guadalajara, Jalisco, México, as a final mass for the great ranchera singer was held in his honor — the family’s way of ensuring he Rest In Peace per their Catholic beliefs.
Fernández died on Sunday at the age of 81, after spending four months in an intensive care unit in Guadalajara.
With great pain, but with all the love in their hearts, Doña Cuquita Abarca, Fernández’s wife, and Alejandro Fernández, one of his sons, thanked all those present and watching from afar as they shared in their loss.
"To all those who sent blessings, who held masses for him, who prayed, to all those people, I send a blessing with all my heart. I thank you and may God take care of you," Abarca said as she drew a close to the celebration of her late husband at the arena.
Alejandro Fernández also thanked the public and the media who were able to tell his father’s story, both in life and in death.
"In the name of the Fernández Abarca family, I want to thank each and every one of you for each show of affection, of love, that you made toward my father in life,” he said. “I also want to thank all of you: the people who came from all parts of Mexico, to all the people who kept tabs on my father's health in the United States, in Mexico, in South America, in Spain.”
Alejandro Fernández, also known as "El Potrillo,” gave a special recognition to the team of doctors who tried to save his father’s life.
“I ask for a round of applause to the doctors who were treating my father and who watched over him until the end,” he said.
In what is now considered Chente’s last goodbye to his fans, Alejandro Fernández complied with a wish that his father had; that when he died, everyone would sing his greatest song at his funeral, the one that catapulted him to fame and gave him footing as Mexico’s greatest charro. That his fans sing “Volver Volver”.
An otherwise emotional performance, before the coffin of his father, which made everyone present cry because “El Potrillo” sang despite having a lump in his throat.
A mass to the tune of mariachi, like he wanted
As a humble, Catholic man, devoted to the Virgin of Guadalupe and considered a family man who knew how to unite nations through his song, this is how Fernández was remembered during the homily of the present body mass on the stage of his Arena VFG.
Musicalized by the Mariachi Azteca, one of Fernández’s preferred mariachis, the mass moved thousands of attendees.
At one point during the mass, the Fernández family joined in a loving embrace.
His final resting place will be at his estate Los Tres Potrillos, located near the arena.
According to Alejandra Fernández, her father’s remains will be laid to rest on the grounds of the rancho where he raised his family — that was his last wish, she said.
“There’s an area in the garden (of the estate); that’s where he’ll rest,” she said.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: In his final goodbye, Vicente Fernández’s son, fans sing ‘Volver, Volver’
