GOING OUT IN STYLE

[samhexum]

Devoted school bus driver David Wright left this world in the vehicle he was committed to driving while alive.

 

The 76-year-old was buried in a bright yellow custom casket, made to look like a school bus for the Tennessee school district he drove for.

 

“Besides the grandkids, that’s something he loved more than anything, being behind the wheel of that bus,” his son Calvin said.

 

Wright, who passed away on Aug. 13, had served the Wilson County school system for 50 years, driving over three generations of families on his bus.

 

A Wilson County Schools representative said he was “an incredible man with so many amazing stories to his credit.”

 

“Mr. Wright was a selfless leader his entire life by being the example we should all strive to be,” the Wilson County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement to Local 12.

 

Wright had been honored for his service weeks prior to his death, when Wilson County Schools announced they would rename their transportation department after him. His funeral at Lebanon High School attracted a huge crowd.

 

The casket was made by family-owned Nashville Casket Sales and was the idea of Wright’s son Calvin and his grandkids.

 

Photos show the inside of the casket with an image of Wright smiling behind the wheel of his bus.

 

Edited January 19, 2021 by samhexum

[samhexum]

He got the last laugh.

 

Loved ones at an Irish funeral for Defense Forces veteran Shay Bradley were shocked — then delighted — when they heard the voice of their late friend calling out from his coffin.

 

“Hello, hello — let me out!,” they heard on Saturday at Bradley’s funeral in Kilmanagh, Leinster, as his casket was lowered into the ground.

 

The pre-recorded message continued, “Where the f - - k am I? Let me out, let me out. It’s f - - king dark in here. Is that the priest I can hear? This is Shay, I’m in the box. No, in f - - king front of you. I’m dead.”

 

A video of the posthumous prank, posted to Twitter Sunday, shows mourners laughing and crying as Bradley’s voice began to sing, “Hello again, hello. Hello, I just called to say goodbye.”

 

The footage has gone viral with more than 500,000 views and over 16,000 likes.

 

Friends and family said the good-humored officer and father made the recording because he knew he was dying of a “long illness bravely borne” — and wanted “to make his family laugh rather than cry at the funeral.”

 

Those close to him are now using the hashtag “#shayslastlaugh” to share the story.

 

“My dad’s dieing [sic] wish, always the pranksters,” wrote his daughter Andrea on Facebook, in a post with more than 70,000 views. “Ya got them good Poppabear and gave us all a laugh just when we needed it!! I will love you forever #shayslastlaugh.”

 

She added on Twitter, “What a man . . . To make us all laugh when we were incredibly sad . . . He was some man for one man . . . Love you forever Poppabear #Shayslastlaugh.”

 

Other veterans of the Defense Force said the video of their colleague’s funeral “says it all” about military humor.

 

“Was asked a question the other day, it was what’s the difference between military humour and Civilian humour it’s simple it’s black. This video should say it all,” they posted on Facebook.

 

Bradley, who died Oct. 8, is survived by his wife, Anne, and children, Jonathan, Susanne, James and Andrea.

 

Edited January 19, 2021 by samhexum

[samhexum]

Man who drove generations of students to be laid to rest in school bus casket

 

It’s the last stop for a small town’s favorite driver.

 

Glen Davis, a driver for Grand Meadow public schools in Minnesota, will be laid to rest in a casket designed to look like one of the yellow school buses he drove for 55 years before his retirement in 2005.

 

Known by the thousands of schoolchildren he hauled to and from school as Glennie, Davis died Saturday at the age of 88. But he’d had his funeral planned — including the zany coffin — since 2015.

 

Davis began driving a bus in 1949 when he was just 17, and logged over 800,000 miles in five vehicles throughout his career, according to his local paper, the Post Bulletin. Davis also worked as a farmer on the side, and could be found milking cows after completing his morning route.

 

The idea for a bus casket was originally thought up by Davis’ son-in-law years ago — although this summer, a beloved Tennessee bus driver, David Wright, was buried in a similarly custom casket.

 

A few of the uncanny details on Davis’ afterlife-bound box: a red stop sign painted on the side; black hardware finishes and replicas of safety lights; and a “03” emblazoned in black paint to signify the number of the first bus Davis drove.

 

The flashy wares were a gift from Jim Hindt, owner of Hindt Funeral Home, who says Davis and his family extended him neighborly love when his daughter, now 16 and healthy, was diagnosed with cancer at 18 months.

 

“We were going through a hard time. Both him and his family were just very good to us,” Hindt said in a 2015 Post Bulletin article about the casket. “I wanted to repay it somehow.”

 

When Davis saw the particular piece, he reportedly got emotional. “Oh, good gosh, I cried a few times,” he told the Bulletin.

 

His family hopes the sight of the casket will lighten the mood at his funeral, to be held on Friday morning.

 

 

http://synd.imgsrv.uclick.com/comics/cl/2020/cl200320.gif

Edited January 19, 2021 by samhexum

[CuriousByNature]

I suppose this means I should be buried in a large Big Mac box, or maybe rolled up in a Subway wrapper like a 68-inch Meatball Marinara.

[samhexum]

WWII vet gets final wish to be buried in Juicy Fruit-themed casket

 

 

A World War II veteran with a major sweet tooth has been granted his last wish — to be buried in a casket painted like a pack of Juicy Fruit.

 

Sammy Oakey of Oakey’s Funeral Service got permission from the Mars Wrigley Company to use the iconic yellow chewing gum logo and fulfill the request of his longtime pal Suttie Economy.

 

Economy, 94, who is currently at a Virginia Veterans Care Clinic due to a heart condition, has a long-documented love of the gum, CNN reported.

 

He developed his taste for it while serving in WWII, when the company took Juicy Fruit and other varieties of gum off the market and dedicated its entire output to the US Armed Forces.

 

When he got home to Roanoke, Virginia, Economy was known to always have a pack on him, and freely donated to others in the community, Oakey told the outlet.

 

“Suttie would come in here for visitation or just come in to visit and he would always bring a bunch of packs of Juicy Fruit chewing gum and put it out for the employees to enjoy,” said Oakey.

 

“He didn’t just do that here. He did it at restaurant and doctor’s offices wherever he went.”

 

The gum became a meaningful symbol for the veteran, said his brother, John Economy.

 

“It served as a symbol for his mission to talk to people about the World War II memorial and to honor the deceased veterans that died for our freedom,” he told CNN.

 

At first, the Mars Wrigley company denied Oakey’s request to use its trademark on Economy’s casket, he said.

 

But the vet’s wish gained attention on social media, and Oakey received a contact for the company’s president from a community member. Within a few days, the VP called and gave his blessing for the logo to be used.

 

The company also sent 250 packs of Juicy Fruit to Economy’s family, Oakey said.

 

The family is now seeking an artist to paint the casket.

[samhexum]

The baseball Hall of Famer who runs a funeral home: Andre Dawson's second act

 

 

 

"YOU RETURN A MAN to dust and say, 'Return, O children of man!'" the reverend prays to God, quoting Psalm 90 about the brevity of human life. "For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past."

 

The preacher, standing in one corner at the front of a chapel drenched in warm apricot tones, plays a traditional role in this ancient ceremony. So does the keyboardist in the opposite corner, sitting on the other side of a flower-topped casket. But the front row at this memorial service is empty, and the mourners around the room sit far apart. The speakers and singers wear masks, and staff members at the Paradise Memorial Funeral Home in Miami don gloves. It's just before Good Friday, and the coronavirus pandemic gives new meaning to walking through the valley of the shadow of death.

 

When the grieving family goes home and the hearses and limousines return to their parking spaces, the funeral home's owner takes up his custodial duties. He vacuums the three reposing rooms, straightens up the two offices, scrubs the bathrooms. He knows how he likes things done, so he figures he'll do them himself. And he doesn't consider it particularly physical labor -- he's 65 but still has broad shoulders and strong hands. Besides, he had to work a lot harder when he was playing major league baseball for 21 years. The man with the mop is Hall of Famer Andre Dawson.

 

 

"PARADISE KIND OF fell into my lap," Dawson says, by way of explaining where life and death have taken him.

 

After making more than $25 million during a 21-year playing career that ended in 1996, Dawson started investing in mortuaries as part of a group formed by his brother Vincent Brown, a Miami attorney. A dozen years ago, Dawson had the chance to buy a funeral parlor in Richmond Heights, a neighborhood at the southern end of Miami that's home to Second Baptist, the church he attends, and 15 minutes down the Don Shula Expressway from where he grew up. The closer Dawson looked at the deal, the more he realized it would require far more than a financial commitment. The state had shut down the business because of license violations. According to Dawson, the building's interior and roof needed renovation. The owner was retiring and moving to Georgia. Taking on the challenge of actually running the place would pull Dawson into an entirely different occupation. At the time, he was still a special assistant to the Florida Marlins.

 

"Do I keep [the funeral home]? Do I sell it? Does the community really need it?" Dawson asked himself. Meeting with local pastors convinced him the answer to the last question was yes -- churches worried about losing services from a partner they had relied on for more than two decades. Dawson began to sense that he personally needed to reopen its doors. "You don't know where God is going to lead you, and this never would have -- in my wildest imagination -- been something I would have thought that I'd be doing," he says. "But I feel like maybe this is my calling."

 

Dawson bought the funeral home and set about refurbishing the structure, redecorating the interior, assembling a staff. "It's not about me, it's not about you, it's about the service being rendered to this community," he told his employees. "Now it's time to make this thing work."

 

Dawson's wife, Vanessa, met Andre when they were kids, and with the engrained trust of a spouse who learned about her partner's fortitude a long time ago, she signed on to Andre's plan. But just about everybody else had doubts. Dawson could have done anything he wanted in retirement, and he chose to deal with dead bodies? His teenage children, Darius and Amber, didn't get it. Neither did his superstar friends. When Jim Rice found out where Dawson was working, he exclaimed, "You do what?" Rickey Henderson, like many people, just gaped.

 

It wasn't just the gruesome nature of his new vocation that gave Dawson's friends and family pause but also the emotion it demanded. Dawson has always been an introvert. And his piercing eyes beam like phasers from under a brow that has been furrowed since he was a child and defines his face even when he smiles. Everyone who knows the man uses the same first adjective to describe him: intense. Pitcher Waite Hoyt, the only other Hall of Famer known to have run a funeral home, had a third gig as a vaudevillian; during offseasons in the 1920s, he sang and performed comedy bits in New York theaters and picked up the nickname "The Merry Mortician." That's not Dawson.

 

Occasionally, Dawson ran into fans who recognized him, including some who wanted to let him know how much he had meant to them in his earlier life. "Are you who I think you are?" a young man once asked as Dawson and his aides approached a house to remove a body.

 

"Well, who do you think I am?" Dawson replied.

 

The answer came instantly, in the form of Dawson's longtime nickname: "You're the Hawk!"

 

REST OF ARTICLE: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29224947/the-baseball-hall-famer-runs-funeral-home-andre-dawson-second-act

 

Andre Dawson’s post-MLB life as funeral home owner inspires TV drama

 

 

Andre Dawson’s post-playing career as a funeral home owner is coming to a television screen near you.

 

CBS is developing a one-hour drama series called “Closure,” which is loosely based on Dawson going from being a Baseball Hall of Famer to running a funeral home, according to Deadline.

 

The series, written by Samantha Corbin-Miller, will follow a former baseball star who takes over his uncle’s funeral home after his adult son disappears.

 

“Rocked by his family’s loss, he and his three daughters — a homicide detective, coroner and trauma nurse, who each have their own parallel journeys in the business of death — commit themselves to helping others find the peace and closure their family hasn’t been able to yet,” according to Deadline.

 

Dawson will reportedly serve as a consultant for the show.

 

The 66-year-old Dawson spent 21 years as an outfielder for the Expos, Cubs, Red Sox and Marlins before retiring after the 1996 season. He then entered the funeral home business in 2003 and owns one in Florida.

 

“You never know where God is going to lead you, but wherever it leads you, you have to be prepared,” Dawson told USA Today in 2018. “When this first fell into my lap, I prayed on it. I thought, ‘How am I really going to pull this off without having the background, or knowing anything really about the industry?’ But I wanted to make this as good a facility as I possibly could, and I’m proud of it.

 

“It’s important to me because this is a product the community needs.’’

 

SEE ALSO

MLB Hall of Famer's second career has been greatly affected by coronavirus

[samhexum]

People in Washington state can now literally push up daisies after their death — as the first human composting efforts in the country recently began there, according to a new report.

 

Two facilities in the Evergreen State received their first bodies for human composting — also known as “natural organic reductions” — last month, local outlet KOIN reported.

 

Herland Forest, a nonprofit research center in Klickitat County, is one of them.

 

Walt Patrick, senior steward at the facility, told the station the “natural organic reductions” are an investment, and it could take several weeks before the composting process is complete.

 

The process begins when the body is placed in a “NOR cradle” along with 200 gallons of wood chips, Patrick said. Bacteria, protozoa and fungi are dispensed into the mixture to speed up the process. Oxygen is also added to keep it between 145 and 155 degrees.

 

Solar panels provide extra heat as needed.

 

The final result is four 55-gallon drums full of usable compost, according to Patrick.

 

The family of the deceased can decide to keep all of it, or donate a portion to Herland Forest to help grow new trees in the cemetery.

 

“This is simply another option at a time when people feel they have no options,” Patrick told the station. “You know, death has intervened and changed your life forever. How can you do something at least to make it the way you want?”

 

Gov. Jay Inslee signed legislation in 2019 legalizing human composting. Advocates say that composting uses less energy than cremation, calling it a greener alternative, according to the local report.

 

Composting is now the only legal way for Washingtonians to be laid to rest on their own property, though in the form of mulch, according to the outlet.

 

Besides Herland Forest, the Seattle-based facility Recompose has also begun the process — with eight bodies so far, a spokesperson told the outlet. A total of 420 “Precompose” members have made advance payments for their future death care.

 

A third facility, Return Home in Auburn, expects to open later this year.

[+ sync]

He got the last laugh.

 

Loved ones at an Irish funeral for Defense Forces veteran Shay Bradley were shocked — then delighted — when they heard the voice of their late friend calling out from his coffin.

 

“Hello, hello — let me out!,” they heard on Saturday at Bradley’s funeral in Kilmanagh, Leinster, as his casket was lowered into the ground.

 

The pre-recorded message continued, “Where the f - - k am I? Let me out, let me out. It’s f - - king dark in here. Is that the priest I can hear? This is Shay, I’m in the box. No, in f - - king front of you. I’m dead.”

 

A video of the posthumous prank, posted to Twitter Sunday, shows mourners laughing and crying as Bradley’s voice began to sing, “Hello again, hello. Hello, I just called to say goodbye.”

 

The footage has gone viral with more than 500,000 views and over 16,000 likes.

 

Friends and family said the good-humored officer and father made the recording because he knew he was dying of a “long illness bravely borne” — and wanted “to make his family laugh rather than cry at the funeral.”

 

Those close to him are now using the hashtag “#shayslastlaugh” to share the story.

 

“My dad’s dieing [sic] wish, always the pranksters,” wrote his daughter Andrea on Facebook, in a post with more than 70,000 views. “Ya got them good Poppabear and gave us all a laugh just when we needed it!! I will love you forever #shayslastlaugh.”

 

She added on Twitter, “What a man . . . To make us all laugh when we were incredibly sad . . . He was some man for one man . . . Love you forever Poppabear #Shayslastlaugh.”

 

Other veterans of the Defense Force said the video of their colleague’s funeral “says it all” about military humor.

 

“Was asked a question the other day, it was what’s the difference between military humour and Civilian humour it’s simple it’s black. This video should say it all,” they posted on Facebook.

 

Bradley, who died Oct. 8, is survived by his wife, Anne, and children, Jonathan, Susanne, James and Andrea.

 

That was original and was apparently appreciated by his family and friends. Had that prank occurred at the funeral of a member of my family, the cemetery would have probably been decimated by the fleeing mourners.

[samhexum]

A woman’s hilarious move from beyond the grave has managed to somehow put the fun in funeral.

Twitter user Gracie Perryman posted the unique card left for every guest at her grandmother’s funeral, which featured a photo of herself sticking her tongue out at the camera.

The message from her granny read: “Let’s keep in touch,” along with the finishing touch: a tiny Ouija board.

“Received this at my grandma’s funeral,” said Perryman, who identified herself in the comments as the woman’s granddaughter. “What an icon.”

Her obituary noted the woman, who went by Jodie, passed away Oct. 12 at 81, and was known for her creativity, “quick wit” and “clever sense of humor.”

 

She should've gotten a tombstone that looked like that.  (get a laugh with your epitaph!)

[samhexum]

On 1/19/2021 at 4:00 PM, samhexum said:

People in Washington state can now literally push up daisies after their death — as the first human composting efforts in the country recently began there, according to a new report.

Two facilities in the Evergreen State received their first bodies for human composting — also known as “natural organic reductions” — last month, local outlet KOIN reported.

Hochul legalizes ‘human composting’ for eco-friendly burials in NY

https://nypost.com/2022/12/31/hochul-legalizes-human-composting-for-eco-friendly-burials-in-new-york/

[samhexum]

An Oklahoma teen is on top of the world after winning a car last month at a funeral 30 miles away from her home — fulfilling the last wish of a woman she had never even met. 

“I’m very grateful for this,” Gabriella Bonham, 16, of El Reno, Oklahoma, told Fox News Digital. 

“Every person that I’ve told about it has said, ‘Oh my gosh. That’s what I should do whenever I pass away.’ Or, ‘I should do something like that at my funeral.’ I think that it’s really cool to see something good happen and the effect that it makes on other people who weren’t directly involved in it. Just people want to do good things. It’s amazing.”

That’s exactly the way Diane Sweeney of Oklahoma City wanted it. 

She died suddenly on July 7, 2022 — and just a few weeks before had told her nephew that when she died, she wanted to gift one of her prized possessions — a 2016 Volkswagen Beetle — to someone who attended the funeral.

“She always had a giving spirit,” Sweeney’s nephew, Rick Ingram, told Fox News Digital. 

“She told a few of us her wish. I remember it clear as day. She said, ‘Whoever comes to my funeral, I want them to have a chance to win my Volkswagen Beetle.’ And I said, ‘Oh, Diane, I’ll make that happen.’” 

Thirty days later, Ingram said he got a call telling him that his aunt had passed away.

Sweeney, who worked in biostatistics for an East coast pharmaceutical company, was not married and did not have children. 

After a successful career, his aunt decided to move back to Oklahoma and live a simple life, said Ingram.

“She valued a peaceful life,” Ingram said. 

“She could have lived anywhere and driven any vehicle. And what she cared about was her Christian faith, her family and her Volkswagen Beetle. She also loved Sonic and Burger King.”

Ingram said he and his cousin, Suzanne Singleterry, decided to make her final wish come true. 

So they reached out to local news outlets to help get the word out.

“We put it in the local paper,” Ingram said. “That her wish is that whoever comes to the funeral — and she didn’t care if they knew her or not, or their age, race — would have a chance to win her car. Channel 4 picked it up and asked if they could do a news story [about it].I said, ‘Absolutely. It’ll pack the funeral home’ — which it did.”

Sixteen-year-old Gabriella Bonham was one of the people who came to the funeral. 

“I saw it on TV and then we kind of just laughed it off because we were like, ‘That would be so funny to go to,'” Bonham said. 

“Then I was like, ‘Can we actually go?’” 

Bonham talked two of her older sisters and some cousins into going with her to the service — and what started out as a fun adventure turned into a more meaningful experience than she ever imagined. 

There, Bonham learned about the life and kindness of Diane Sweeney.

“It was very interesting not to know her and to see her life through her family’s eyes,” Bonham said. 

“They put together the slideshows and everything and so it was just interesting to feel like you knew someone that you had never met before. They said that she was a very funny and fun person to be around and that she loved her family and church. It definitely seemed like she was a generous person.”

Bonham filled out her raffle ticket and went on her way — but didn’t hear anything for over a year. 

Ingram said it took that long to settle Sweeney’s estate and then they were free to hold the raffle.

Sweeney had enlisted two trustworthy friends — Rudy Espinoza and Taylor Hurt — to keep the tickets safe and finally to draw a name on Sept. 15, 2023. 

The staff of Resthaven Funeral Home in Oklahoma City also helped facilitate the raffle.

Out of the blue, Bonham said, she got a phone call that changed her life — or at least her ability to get around town. 

She was experiencing issues with her current car and it was not a reliable mode of transportation, she said.

“I wasn’t expecting it at all,” Bonham said. “I was just in a hotel room with my family because we were currently on a trip. They just told me and I was standing in the middle of the room, just so shocked. My parents were trying to guess what it was. They were like, ‘What happened? Are you OK? Who is it?’ After I got off the phone, we all got excited and called all of our family members who knew that I went to the funeral.”

Ingram said it was a lot of fun making the call and hearing the excitement of Bonham’s family in the background. 

“The perfect winner was drawn,” Ingram said. 

“She was ecstatic and very grateful. I had a divine feeling from the start [that] this wish would be seen through one way or another — a young girl starting her life as Diane’s was ending. It worked out perfectly.” 

A few days later, Bonham made the trip to Oklahoma City to claim her prize.

“I was trying not to freak out because it was just so cool,” Bonham said. 

“It was a lot of pressure, driving away in front of everybody. I was kind of nervous. So I was just thinking ‘Don’t do anything stupid. You know how to drive. Don’t worry about it, just drive away.'”

Ingram said he’s grateful for the message of his aunt’s life.

“Diane would have been thrilled with everyone that attended the funeral,” Ingram said. 

“She was always thinking of others, even after her death, which is one of her many legacies. And now [Gabriella] starts her life in the spirit of Diane.”

[samhexum]

 

Plot twist Reunite Bonnie and Clyde! Robbers' relatives want duo buried together 90 years after their deaths

The lovers died during their robbery spree but their wish to be buried together was ignored.

[CuriousByNature]

11 hours ago, samhexum said:

 

Plot twist Reunite Bonnie and Clyde! Robbers' relatives want duo buried together 90 years after their deaths

The lovers died during their robbery spree but their wish to be buried together was ignored.

Their love story has about 40 holes in it.  Too soon?

[CuriousByNature]

6 hours ago, CuriousByNature said:

Their love story has about 40 holes in it.  Too soon?

And they never got married.  Not even a shotgun wedding.

[samhexum]

Former Dutch prime minister and wife die 'hand in hand' in legal duo euthanasia

[+ WilliamM]

35 minutes ago, samhexum said:

Former Dutch prime minister and wife die 'hand in hand' in legal duo euthanasia

So.... what?

[samhexum]

[samhexum]

[samhexum]

Queens couple of 40 years tie the knot in their hospital room as their dying wish

Edited April 4 by samhexum
for absolutely NO @%!*ING reason at all!

[marylander1940]

On 10/20/2022 at 2:51 PM, samhexum said:

A woman’s hilarious move from beyond the grave has managed to somehow put the fun in funeral.

Twitter user Gracie Perryman posted the unique card left for every guest at her grandmother’s funeral, which featured a photo of herself sticking her tongue out at the camera.

The message from her granny read: “Let’s keep in touch,” along with the finishing touch: a tiny Ouija board.

“Received this at my grandma’s funeral,” said Perryman, who identified herself in the comments as the woman’s granddaughter. “What an icon.”

Her obituary noted the woman, who went by Jodie, passed away Oct. 12 at 81, and was known for her creativity, “quick wit” and “clever sense of humor.”

 

She should've gotten a tombstone that looked like that.  (get a laugh with your epitaph!)

Hilarious!

She must have been a handful and delightful at the same time!