Friends and family gather to remember pastor's late wife

HOUSTON – Family and friends of a pastor’s wife killed by a drunk driver held a prayer service today to pray for their pastor, who is in the hospital.

Bertha Emiliano died Sunday night after a suspected drunk driver crashed into her Chevy Impala head-on.

Pastor Ramon Emiliano was a passenger and was seriously hurt. He is the pastor at Iglesias Evangelica Independent Gethsemani on Hitchcock Street in north Houston.

“It’s been really hard on the family,” Emiliano’s niece, Martha Martinez, said Tuesday.

Martinez said her aunt will be remembered as a kind person.

“She’s always been helping everybody. There was a person who had cancer. She was there. She cooked for them. It’s going to be hard without her there,” Martinez said.

Bertha Emiliano was driving along West Mount Houston about 9:45 p.m. Sunday when the Harris County Sheriff’s Office says Jose De Jesus Osorio Albarran crashed into the Emiliano’s vehicle.

A sheriff’s office lieutenant says Albarran appeared drunk. Albarran is charged with intoxication manslaughter with a vehicle, according to online court records.

“Why can’t people think before driving drunk,” Martinez asked. “I know my uncle when he wakes up is going to say, ‘You have to forgive.’”

Two other people were in Emiliano’s car. Both were also taken to the hospital.

If you have a tip about this story, email investigative reporter Jace Larson at jlarson@kprc.com or text him at 832-493-3951.