As intensely privately and internally as he lived, so he was respectfully treated at his funeral, according to his final wishes.
Shorn of pomp and stripped of all but the barest pageantry, the funeral Mass this morning for Albert Vera, Culver City’s main citizen, was a minimalist exercise at St. Augustine Catholic Church — except perhaps for the capacity throng of about 850 mourners, including such special friends as Los Angeles City Councilman Herb Wesson and retired County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke.
Father Kevin Nolan, the gray-haired, crewcut pastor of St. Augustine, richly textured his tribute with layers of pearlish paeans about Mr. Vera’s legendary generosity, tracing his most noble acts to his Catholic training.
In keeping with the wishes of Mr. Vera and his family, and in an overt divergence from funerals for transformative persons, Father Nolan was the lone speaker.
“Albert didn’t do funerals, or any ceremony to which flamboyance was attached,” said one of his many friends from City Hall.
Characterizing Mr. Vera as a brilliant student of traditional Christianity, the pastor described his friend as “a politician par excellence who was a voice for the voiceless of Culver City, a man who represented the generosity of God.” He suggested that Mr. Vera was a protégé of Thomas More, “the patron saint of politicians and attorneys,” whose “huge challenge in life was to speak the truth. He was one who always gave paternal love, but never compromised the truth.
“From the very moment that we look at creation,” Father Nolan said, “we see the act of giving. A politician is called to give of self, to be an advocate for all, and in a very special way for the poor. Albert must have listened often to the intercessions of the Holy Spirit to be the advocate who reaches out with generosity, who looks for the needs of others. The Holy Spirit is at work in our lives when we reflect the generosity of God.”
The service was simple, moving at times, emotional for those who knew or knew of Mr. Vera, but, intentionally, a distantly personal and distantly emotional ceremony. At an early point, Father Nolan asked the grieving Vera family to stand and be honored by the applauding crowd.
Originally the 80-minute service was scheduled for a modest chapel at Holy Cross Cemetery, but the overwhelming request for seating brought the change in churches.
Downtown emptied out before the start of the business day as virtually every living member of official Culver City, past and present, and from beyond its borders, joined in prayer for the self-made uber-businessman/rancher/politician, who died suddenly last Monday at 75 years old.
