burying does NOT require a funeral... many states don't require embalming and a plain wooden coffin works as well as a bronze one now... who is going to pay for/bury her???
Posted on 02/17/2013 10:58:29 AM PST by nickcarraway
Elsie Smith is having an estate sale this weekend even though she'd rather not.
She needs money to do something very important. And if that means selling all of her belongings to get it done, then so be it.
Smith says she had a rough life until she met the love of her life 46 years ago.
"I loved that man more than anything in this whole wide world," she said.
But Joe Smith suffered from Alzheimer's for the last two years. And last Tuesday, he passed away.
Elsie spent Friday looking at everything she owns. She plans to sell everything she owns except for a treasured painting of Jesus and some flowers.
"I love the things I have here, but if I can't have them, I can't have them," she said.
Elsie is alone in this world. At 91, she has outlived all her friends. She has no children, no relatives of any kind, and she is broke.
"No one to step up," said Jessica Weatherby, her former caretaker. "I'm just a past caregiver, and I'm here to help as much as I can."
From old VHS tapes to her jewelry and her knickknacks, everything in Elsie's modest apartment will be sold this weekend.
"I've got to get rid of it," she said. "I don't want to, but I have to."
And it's all because she needs to bury Joe. It's the one thing he asked of her.
"Why? Because he asked for it. He said so many times, 'Elsie, don't have me cremated. I don't want to be cremated.'"
None of us plan to be old and alone. But the twists and turns of life have put Elsie there.
On Thursday, she was moved to the Regency Care Center for full-time care.
She had a rough life until she met her love. And now she's going to put him in the ground, if it's the last thing she does.
"To me, he was the best man in the world," she said.
Elsie has a total of $9 to her name. She expects the funeral to cost approximately $3,000.
Anyone who'd like to help her pay for the burial is urged to contribute to the Problem Solvers fund.
i am annoyed that it took the writer of this article so long to get to the point of why the subject needs to sell everything... i get the build up... but this didn’t need that much build up... you can figure it out before the writer gets to the point... bleh...
burying does NOT require a funeral... many states don't require embalming and a plain wooden coffin works as well as a bronze one now... who is going to pay for/bury her???
My fathers body was in a cardboard box. Yet he was cremated.
The average funeral around here is $12,000 dollars. Cremation $6,000.
How do I send her a donation and be sure she gets it?
Plus I don’t want to be put on any mailing list.
Perhaps an email to the station (KOMO Seattle/Western Washington) could give you some information.
God bless her
http://www.komonews.com/tv/contact
Cremation $6000 bucks? Whaaat? Holy cow, why does burning someone cost that much? What do they use, 1500 gallons of gas?
She got the money by last night. Check KOMO on the first page they have some kind of “promise” or charitable help feature, had the money in no time once it went national.
It sounded like she needs to go into LTC so maybe she needs to sell some of it anyway, at least it seems like she can keep more than just 2 things.
Reading some of the comments now...thanks for the information.
I shouldn’t have clicked on that link...I saw another story about that ‘Phoenix Jones’ character...ye gads, Seattle...
were they married?
That was my question. I looked the site over and saw no way to specify that I wanted the donation to go to her specifically. Plus, they limit payments ti mastercard and visa, I prefer paypal. But, I want to be able choose where my money goes. jmo
I had to go see. Phoenix Jones and his “fellow superheroes”, along with Purple Reign, Seattle’s only female superhero.
LOL, fo’ real?
For real...Phoenix has been around for a while...not sure about the girl. What kills me is how the reporters discuss these ‘super-heroes’ in such a matter of fact manner. I would have had a call into the men with the butterfly nets...
i think they were married... the reason being they share the same surname... however Smith is a common name... Joe and Eileen Smith...
but the lefty writer will go out of their way not to point it out and cause pain for their leftist readers?
leftist readers don't marry? or don't like marriage?
My elderly mom just let us know that she heard that if she donates her body to the University they will cover cremation (after awhile!) and return them to one of us kids. Then asked if we would mind if she did that. (Well mom - it’s your body, you’ll be dead, you can do what you want.) She already paid for her funeral 15 years ago - but she’ll get a refund on whatever the funeral home doesn’t do!
I think they find it offensive or something.
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