Victoria Advocate
HOUSTON — Inside Trey Ganem’s custom casket warehouse rest five freshly painted caskets.
One glistens in winter blue; another in soft burgundy. Delicately designed snowflakes recreate a scene from the movie “Frozen.”
Lilyana Hernandez, 6, and her sister, Areyanah Hernandez, 5, loved that movie.
“I mix the paint myself,” Ganem said in the middle of his workshop.
By his sisters’ side, a slightly larger casket emulates the video game series “Call of Duty” - a game Nicholas Ortiz, 13, enjoyed.
The casket is complete with a flat-black coat of paint and vibrant green detail, and the side reads, “Nicholas got called to duty.”
Guarding his sisters from the opposite side, sits a royal blue casket with the number “50" for football player Noah Ortiz, 15 - Noah was the oldest of five siblings killed in an early Tuesday morning mobile home fire.
Though services are pending, Ganem has been working hard for three days to capture the personalities of the five children.
On Saturday, Ganem sprayed one last gloss coat on the final casket, which was sleek black and red with wrestling organization name “WWE” written across it - this one was for 11-year-old Julian Ortiz.
Ganem’s eyes could not help but well with tears when talking about capturing the personalities of the children through their caskets.
“I knew these kids. My boy played football with Noah and my kids went to the same school,” the Edna resident said. “When it happens that close to home, it just hits so hard.”
Personal belongings of the children will also be buried with them, like Noah’s football helmet and Nicholas’ dog tags, which reveal his love for “Call of Duty.”
Working on the caskets has been a emotional roller coaster.
“When I thought about making caskets, I didn’t realize I would be making them for kids,” he said. “But they are very special because they have these great big personalities.”
Ganem said he begins with generic caskets, stripping them and adding his own original flair, keeping the individual in mind.
“When I saw that the little girls liked ‘Frozen’, I started looking at the colors. I hand-mixed all the colors to match the costumes of the princesses,” he said.
Ganem wants to change the funeral experience for the family and instead create a sense of bliss and peace.
“This is a celebration of their lives,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if you have lived six months or 16 years, these kids have made animpact on others.”
Ganem said the Hernandez and Ortiz family has been visiting his shop frequently, sharing their memories of the children. Many in the community have also shown up to lend a helping hand.
Frank Pina III, a distant relative of the family, drove in from Houston to assist Ganem with what he could.
“When I first saw the caskets, they gave me goosebumps,” Pina said. “He took the time to really show the personality of all the kids; you can’t put words to it.”
With the caskets now complete, the next - and also hardest - step, is to attend the funeral.
“It’s hard for me to say how I’m going to feel,” he said. “It’s really not about me, it’s about the kids. But it’s a blessing what I can provide. It’s like I’ve done something to better someone’s life - I want it to be a happy goodbye.”
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