‘We love you, Ben.’ North Side family bands together to remember mariachi musician, 17

Many people who spoke at a vigil Monday at North Side High School for a young mariachi singer who died in a Thanksgiving morning collision pleaded with the large gathering to not be sad.

Benjamin Isaac Castañeda Floran, who was a 17-year-old senior when he was killed, would not have wanted you to be sad, they told the solemn crowd. Floran was always smiling, joking, laughing and always ready to bring joy for someone who may not have had the best of days.

But the students, family and friends could not help themselves.

The school mariachi band played through their tears and struggled with the music that so many said Floran loved so much.

And when their songs were over, there was no applause.

Floran was a member of the school’s mariachi band as well as the local group Mariachi Orgullo Mexicano. Hundreds, including the parents of the band members Floran played with, teachers and classmates, gathered at the school’s flagpole for a candlelight vigil on Monday, organized by the Mariachi Espuelas de Plata Parent Booster Club.

Floran’s father, Benjamin Castañeda, said after the vigil that Thanksgiving and the days after have been hard for his family.

“Our son was such a bright, young kid,” the father said.

Floran crashed into a suspected drunk driver traveling the wrong way on Northeast Loop 820 in North Richland Hills. A dog was also killed in the crash, which friends said was Ben’s months-old poodle, Jax.

Floran, a Burleson resident, was heading to AT&T Stadium around 5 a.m. to join his father’s family in tailgating in a crowded parking lot before the Dallas Cowboys took on the Buffalo Bills.

Nancy Torrez, the mother of one of the students who played in the mariachi band with Floran, asked the crowd to shout, “We love you, Ben,” when they released purple balloons into the sky, “because we know he’s up there and we know he’s watching.”

Carla Martin, who taught Floran in her anatomy and physiology class this year, said she got a call on Thanksgiving from a school guidance counselor telling her what had happened.

“He was a scrawny little kid but he had the biggest voice,” Martin said. “I remember one pep rally when he stepped up. He just blew me away.”

People are still processing the news, she explained.

“North Side is like a very big family,” she said. “We’re going to have to lean on each other, band together and hopefully that will alleviate some of the pain.”

‘That’s what Ben would have wanted’

Antonio Martinez, North Side High School principal, said that students need to continue to dream big, just like Floran.

“Because that’s what Ben would have wanted,” Martinez said.

The Fort Worth school district board will observe a moment of silence in remembrance of Floran at its Dec. 10 meeting, and those attending are asked to wear North Side colors — maroon and white, a news release said.

Grief counselors are available to students and teachers who need someone to talk to as they process this loss. Several North Side events are planned this week to support Floran’s family.

Floran began playing the violin in a mariachi band in sixth grade but became passionate about the genre in high school, even playing with friends in restaurants or at weddings on the weekends, according to his mother, Juana Floran. She said he hoped to go to college next year to study to become a teacher of mariachi, passing on what has brought him joy and a direction in his life.

The woman accused of killing him, Noemi Martinez, 29, was booked into North Richland Hills Jail on Friday and charged with intoxication manslaughter, police said. She allegedly hit three vehicles in the crash. Ben was critically injured and later died of his injuries. A second motorist was injured, though his injuries were not life-threatening.

Tributes have poured in for Floran on social media, and a GoFundMe page set up to help his family with funeral expenses had raised more than $18,000 as of Monday night.

Floran joined Mariachi Orgullo Mexicano about a year ago and quickly became close with the other members. Yessenia Barranco, the 21-year-old unofficial leader of the group, said Ben “wasn’t just a member of our group — he became family.”

He grew especially close with her 16-year-old younger sister, and the two were building toward a possible relationship someday, Barranco said. Floran actually gave Jax, the poodle, to her sister as a gift, often taking care of the dog himself and considering it his “baby.”

The day before Thanksgiving, Floran was at Barranco’s home helping her family hang Christmas lights. And it was their home where he was planning to spend his Thanksgiving night with Mariachi Orgullo Mexicano.

Barranco said her sister has been having a rough time since Floran’s death, feeling like it can’t be real. He was planning to ask her sister to prom, Barranco said.

This story includes information from Star-Telegram archives.

This story was originally published December 2, 2019 at 9:14 PM.