The life of Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a celebrated DJ from Shawnee, known as “everybody’s biggest cheerleader,” will be remembered this weekend.
A funeral mass for Lopez-Galvan will be held at 10 a.m. at Redemptorist Catholic Church, 3333 Broadway Blvd., in Kansas City, Missouri. It will be open to the public, while a burial following the funeral will be only for her family.
On Friday, there will be a visitation from 7 to 9 p.m., also at Redemptorist. Large crowds are expected for both memorials, which is why the events have been planned at the large church in midtown Kanas City.
‘She was a big-hearted person’
Since her death from a gunshot on Feb. 14 during the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl rally at Union Station, stories of Lopez-Galven’s giving nature and love of music have circulated in media outlets across the globe.
“She was a big-hearted person,” Beto Lopez, her brother, said in an interview with KCUR. “Great mother, great wife, great grandmother. To me, more importantly, she was a great sister.”
Priscilla Martinez, a former co-worker with Lopez-Galvan, said she was a light for people during their darkest times.
“She helped me (escape) from an abusive relationship and she took me to live with her when I finally left that bad person and waited patiently (until) I found my own place,” she said. “She paid the place to have my baby shower. She was amazing, one in a million. Losing her is honestly a tragedy.”
A celebrated DJ, working under the name “DJ Lisa G,” Lopez-Galvan entertained people at parties and on the radio, with the program “A Taste of Tejano” on independent radio station KKFI 90.1 FM.
Knowing her since her days as a teen living on the west side of Kansas City, in the Sacred Heart neighborhood, Joe Arce, publisher of the KC Hispanic News, said her personality knew no boundaries.
“She was beyond Kansas City. She was known to DJ (events in) Topeka, and some of the other surrounding areas and towns here,” he said. “If they didn’t know her and she would go to an event and DJ, they really appreciated how she was just so outgoing and wanted to make sure that people were just enjoying the event and just having a lot of fun.”
Lopez-Galvan was known as loving wife to her husband, Mike Galvan, who would often help out during her DJ gigs. She was also a caring mother to her two children, Marc and Adriana.
As her brother said in another interview on KKFI, Lisa was “the fun one” of the four Lopez siblings.
For those that knew her, the absence of Lopez-Galvan’s infectious energy and smile has been hard to accept.
“It’s just so hard to understand,” said Christina Nuñez, a childhood friend of Lopez-Galvan, who spoke at a vigil honoring victims of the rally shooting the night after it happened. “I hope that we can learn from this, but I hate that God took such a beautiful person. It’s going to take a long time for a lot of us to understand and heal from this. It’s just a tragedy.”
Multiple tributes honor her inspiration
Following Lopez-Galvan’s death, a torrent of tributes have been posted on social media, including on the pages of her alma mater, Bishop Miege High School; the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas; and the City of Roeland Park, where she previously worked as the city’s court clerk.
A GoFundMe page that will help her family has as of Friday raised more than $386,000, including two separate $50,000 donations from Taylor Swift.
On Tuesday, KKFI ran a special two-hour tribute episode of “Taste of Tejano” in memory of Lopez-Galvan.
The show, led by her co-host Tommy Andrade, featured some of Lopez-Galvan’s favorite songs, as well as friends and family sharing stories about her life.
On the program, Beto Lopez, her brother, said all of the kind words and tributes have meant a lot to the family and give them hope her memory will live on.
“As tough as the initial shock was the day that this happened, that was hard to get over,” he said. “What has helped get us through this is all the love and support from our community: Our Latino community, our Tejano community and overall, the Kansas City community. We’re overwhelmed with all the love and support.”
This story was originally published by the Johnson County Post.
