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Beloved husband & dad is mourned, but it's not his body in the casket
Philadelphia Daily News ^ | 8/19/2009 | KITTY CAPARELLA

Posted on 08/19/2009 3:33:02 PM PDT by Lmo56

The mourners knew it wasn't Tex.

Nearly everyone who passed the silver casket at Tindley Temple United Methodist Church yesterday morning whispered to each other. That's not Tex, they said. But the corpse was wearing his blue suit and black boots ...

On Monday night, Roberts' wife, Janie Holsey, and others went to check the body at James L. Hawkins Funeral Home, at 1640 Federal St., and told a female employee: "This is not my husband."

But family members said the woman at the South Philadelphia funeral home insisted: "That's how they look when they die." ...

Meantime, the funeral home found Roberts' remains, and rushed them back to the church. When an assistant opened the door of the hearse, mortified relatives screamed at the sight.

"The casket had tilted and his leg was hanging out," said Wearing, who believed they drove so fast, hitting bumps, that the casket opened ...

(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: body; casket
Jeez - don't ya JUST hate when that happens ...

Read the full article - I just excerpted some good parts ...

1 posted on 08/19/2009 3:33:03 PM PDT by Lmo56
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To: Lmo56

I hate when that happens


2 posted on 08/19/2009 3:36:29 PM PDT by clamper1797 (A Kenyan Muslim KGB agent could not do a better job as president)
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To: Lmo56
But family members said the woman at the South Philadelphia funeral home insisted: "That's how they look when they die." ...

Denial. It ain't just a river in Egypt.

3 posted on 08/19/2009 3:37:40 PM PDT by Talisker (When you find a turtle on top of a fence post, you can be damn sure it didn't get there on it's own.)
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To: Lmo56
"The casket had tilted and his leg was hanging out," said Wearing, who believed they drove so fast, hitting bumps, that the casket opened ...

I can live(die) with that. Late to own funeral, appearance unbecoming, failure to keep limbs in coffin, probably smelling like booze laced with formaldehyde. I think it's what my family would expect of me.

/johnny

4 posted on 08/19/2009 3:42:47 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (God Bless us all, each, and every one.)
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To: Lmo56

Philadelphia...isn’t that the place with the cemetery issues?
What is it with Philly and dead people?


5 posted on 08/19/2009 3:45:57 PM PDT by visualops (this tagline has been reported to -redacted-)
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To: JRandomFreeper

I kinda liked “Weekend at Bernies”

Who wouldn’t want to party after they’re dead?


6 posted on 08/19/2009 3:46:57 PM PDT by nevergore ("It could be that the purpose of my life is simply to serve as a warning to others.")
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To: windcliff

ping


7 posted on 08/19/2009 3:51:10 PM PDT by I Drive Too Fast
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To: JRandomFreeper

LOL good one.


8 posted on 08/19/2009 3:52:49 PM PDT by goat granny
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To: visualops

Philadelphia...isn’t that the place with the cemetery issues?

What is it with Philly and dead people?

Actually, Chicago - I think ... where the dead vote MORE than once ...


9 posted on 08/19/2009 3:57:05 PM PDT by Lmo56
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To: Lmo56

Hope they didn’t get the two dead guys voting districts mixed up...


10 posted on 08/19/2009 3:58:05 PM PDT by Bi-ped Carbon Unit (Coburn / DeMint 2012)
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To: Lmo56

Good grief, was the gov’t running this operation???


11 posted on 08/19/2009 3:58:23 PM PDT by LucyJo
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To: Lmo56

When my husband died we were not informed by the funeral home until 2 hours before visitation started that my husbands body was not even at the funeral home because it had not yet been released by the medical examiners office.

It was too late to cancel anything. Took an hour of screaming at people to get the body released. It arrived at the funeral home during visitation.

Since it was a closed casket very few of us knew it was empty. I felt like such a fraud because people came to pay respects and were praying over the empty casket. I still haven’t told my mother.

The funeral home wanted us to have a mock visitation and possibly a mock funeral the next day with a private funeral whenever the body was released.


12 posted on 08/19/2009 4:02:34 PM PDT by barker (Sarah Palin 2012? You betcha!)
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To: Bi-ped Carbon Unit

You could hear a pin drop when someone said “Well at least we correctly buried him at sea...he was supposed to be buried at sea, right?”


13 posted on 08/19/2009 4:03:54 PM PDT by Radl (sai)
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To: Lmo56

A tragic undertaking.


14 posted on 08/19/2009 4:09:38 PM PDT by shotdog (I love my country; it's my government I'm afraid of.)
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To: Bi-ped Carbon Unit

Yeah, that’s it....hadda hit 3 maybe 4 or 5 polls before 7PM!!!!!


15 posted on 08/19/2009 4:20:58 PM PDT by Gaffer
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To: barker

Oh that must have been extra devastating to go through. A funeral alone is enough. My condolences and prayers go out to you.


16 posted on 08/19/2009 4:42:14 PM PDT by classified
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To: visualops

They’ve got too many of them to keep up with.


17 posted on 08/19/2009 5:11:57 PM PDT by Old Professer (The critic writes with rapier pen, dips it twice, then writes again.)
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To: JRandomFreeper

Thanks for the chuckle.


18 posted on 08/19/2009 10:06:36 PM PDT by Daniel II (I'm Jim Thompson, this is my brother Jimmy, and this is my other brother Jimmy)
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To: Lmo56; All

Years ago, I was on my way to Statesboro to visit a friend, and spyed a line of headlights coming up behind ( down South, the only thing that could be is a funeral procession ) and following the custom of that faraway day, pulled over, stood at attention, hand over heart, and waited for it to pass on by... We all did such things then, and I wasn’t alone... but...

I noticed the hearse was missing.

Well, the line of family and mourners went by, I saddled up and headed out... a few minutes later I hear the wail of a siren, and here comes the hearse, red gumball machine ( beacon ) flashing, doing at least a hundred miles an hour with that big Cadillac V-8 unspooling, and as they blurred by me I thought

“Bet his Dad told him he was so slow he’d be late to his own funeral...


19 posted on 08/20/2009 3:13:01 AM PDT by backhoe (All across America, the Lights are going out...)
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