Thousands turned out at Sarasota National Cemetery for the funeral of Edward Pearson after it was learned he died without family. He actually had two sons he walked out on that a funeral home failed to disclose.

Now Blair McFarlane has been to some military funerals. In fact, he attends about 100 a year. But never before has he had to use the maintenance entrance to get into the cemetery.

Sure enough, that was McFarlane last Tuesday morning, riding his Can-Am Spider motorcycle into Sarasota National Cemetery, about 90 minutes before the start of Edward Pearson's service. McFarlane remembers thinking ''Oh my goodness'' when he saw the number of cars trying to get in. No kidding, there were so many backed up that even Pearson's urn was stuck in traffic and needed a police escort.

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McFarlane is a member of the Patriot Guard Riders, a volunteer group that provides support at military funerals. The average funeral, he said, might have 10 to 50 people. At Pearson's there might have been 4,000. McFarlane has never seen anything like it, all because it was believed a veteran had died alone.

Pearson served in the U.S. Army from 1962-64, and when he died in Naples on Aug. 31, the Legacy Options funeral home put a small obit in the local newspaper. The 80-year-old Pearson, it read, died without immediate family. All were welcome to attend his Oct. 1 service.

CNN's Jake Tapper tweeted it, Sen. Marco Rubio Facebooked it, and the next thing anyone knew, a Sarasota restaurant — in what has to be a first — was offering a free cheese pizza to anyone who attended. "He had no family," 2018 gubernatorial candidate Gwen Graham posted on social media. "We can be his family."

There was only one problem: He did have family. He had two sons he walked out on when they were teenagers. It took Edward Pearson Jr. more than a decade to stop being angry. He said he was told that his father had died years ago, was electrocuted on the job. Imagine his surprise when he found out — through social media — his father had been alive all these years. He learned about his real death the day before the service. Then the family called the funeral home to tell them the news.

Legacy Options, the funeral home in Naples, knew there was family the night before the service and said nothing about it. The home told the Herald-Tribune the family gave their blessing to continue as planned, and that may have been true. But there were steps the funeral home could have taken to make this right with the public and family.

Sarasota National Cemetery should have been notified first of all, if only as a courtesy.

Many times, when veterans without immediate family are to be honored, and their identities have not been revealed by a funeral home, the cemetery does not release their names until the day of the service. That's in case family does come forward. McFarlane will usually get a list of the names only a few hours prior. He has seen names pulled off the list at the last minute because family has been discovered. It's called a "Stand Down."

"I'm very grateful they did what they did, but the family got shorted,'' McFarlane said. "That's not respectful in my mind. But if they (the funeral home) cancel, they don't get the publicity. They don't get the crowd for Mr. Pearson."

At the very least, it should have been mentioned at the service that family had been found. It was not mentioned. Instead, a Legacy Options funeral director spoke about the services his business provides.

The funeral home had another chance as feel-good stories were published around the country in the days that followed. The funeral home should have issued a statement that family had been found. It did not. In fact, Legacy Options did not issue one until three days later, and only after being contacted by the Herald-Tribune.

At first the funeral home stated the family did not want to be involved, but then backtracked. Liz Pearson, Edward Pearson Jr.'s wife, said the family would have attended had they learned of the service earlier.

The funeral home hung up when asked if they thought they deceived the public. McFarlane, the Patriot Guard Rider, was asked the same question. He remained on the line and answered.

"Veterans deserve all the honor and respect we can give them," he said. "I don't see honor or respect in lying to the public. A lie of omission is still a lie. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth that the truth wasn't brought out.

"The word I have used a couple of times privately is circus. It was really almost a three-ring circus. It was a show. It was not a service, it was a show, and I don't know if he would have wanted that kind of show going on around him.

"But that wasn't his choice."

On Wednesday morning at Sarasota National Cemetery, one week after the full military funeral of Edward Karl Pearson that was attended by thousands of people he never knew, a service is scheduled for three unclaimed veterans whose obits were not posted by a funeral home and then picked up by social media.

Plenty of parking is available.

Contact columnist Chris Anderson at chris.anderson@heraldtribune.com.