VIDOR, Texas — Members of the Vidor community are coming together for a hometown hero who is grieving the loss of his wife.
Miriam Buentello was identified as the woman who died in a crash on Interstate 10 near Houston on Monday. Her husband, Daniel Guajardo, is a Vidor EMT, firefighter and a veteran.
"He now has to walk this thing we call life without his person, the love of his life, his better half," organizers said in the GoFundMe.
Guarjado has worked for Orange County Emergency Services District Number 1 for a little more than a year.
He lived in Houston but commuted to Vidor, and the crew became his second family. Members of that second family started a GoFundMe to help him pay for funeral expenses
“He spent most of his adult life serving the community, and we are hoping we can get the community to help back and fire, EMS. We are all a pretty tight-knit family,” Tyler Johnson, engineer paramedic with Orange ESD 1, said.
Guarjado and Buentello were married for almost three years. Now, he is faced with the tough task of laying her to rest.
“They were in their early twenties,” Kayla Williams, district supervisor for Allegiance Mobile Health, said. “People don’t think when they are that young that this could happen. You don't have life insurance policies, and it would help him so much to give her what she deserves.”
Guajardo’s coworkers are urging the community to support him as he endures the loss of the love of his life.
“He has his family back at home that is an amazing support system for him, and we want to be that support system for him here also,” Williams said. “To know that he is surrounded by everyone there for him and he will make through. We are going to make it along the way.”
Some of the fund raisers they plan to hold could include a silent auction and food.
“We have a GoFundMe for Daniel to help with all his expenses. That will be coming, and we also have a venmo," Williams said. "And some people aren't comfortable with the GoFundMe, so we also have CashApp, and we are working on a fundraiser plate."
Organizers said Guarjado needs the community to "stand behind him and help him along."
Vidor community rallying behind hometown hero who lost wife in Houston crash
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