Services, funeral procession for homeless vet Thursday

The owner of Millard Funeral Home in Columbia says they are handling services for a homeless veteran Thursday morning. They were first contacted by the VA hospital in December, after no one claimed the body of Jeffery Lopardo, 67, from Jonesburg, Mo.

Reid Millard reports seeing a lot of community support since then. He says members of the ROTC will serve as pallbearers, the Missouri Military Academy will provide music, the Patriot Guard Riders will be there, and Stephens College will hang a banner from one of their pedestrian bridges.

Millard says there will be a procession along Broadway to Highway 63 after the services at 11:30 a.m. Thursday at their chapel on Ash Street near downtown.

Lopardo will be buried in the state veterans’ cemetery in Jacksonville, about an hour north of Columbia.

A link to Lopardo’s obituary is posted here.