CEMENTERY STORY # 2

Let's continue this long walk because I have not finished my unusual stories!

About the same time we were replacing headstones, I received a call from a member of the cemetery committee.  He was creating a new plat for the cemetery because the former pastor had destroyed the old one.  This was very disturbing because the graves in that cemetery had dates as far back as the 17th and 18th centuries!  He said he needed to talk to me because he wanted to know why my first cousin's body was being exhumed after being buried one year!

I have some crazy cousins on my maternal relative tree!  I had no idea what he was talking about and again I consulted the person in our sibling branch who has an excellent memory at the age of eighty-six.  Unfortunately she had no idea what was happening but reassured me she would find the answer.

After many phone calls to cousins of the dead, but exhumed, cousin, she was able to learn a possible , amazingly stupid reason for this unusual situation.  The dead, but exhumed, cousin had been married twice and had fathered a daughter in each marriage.  The elder daughter was twenty years older than the younger daughter; however, the younger daughter was still living with her father at the time of his sudden death and had made all the decisions regarding the funeral.

Now.....stay with me on this......it gets better....................

The older daughter had been grieving for one year because of two very important issues surrounding her father's death.
1.  He was not buried in the outfit she wanted
2/  His hair was not combed the way she liked

The funeral home tried to appease her anxieties and even offered to forgive any debts incurred as a result of the funeral expenses.  She would agree to nothing but to have him exhumed and redressed!

Now this is the good part......................................

She had him redressed the way he always dressed, in a pair of shorts and a tank top.!   I suppose he died in that attire because from what I remember as the cause of his death was this:  He pulled through the drive-through of his local beer joint for his week-end supply of beer.  He was, of course wearing the beloved attire of a pair of shorts and a tank top.  When the clerk handed him the beer, he found him slumped over the steering wheel of his truck, dead from an apparent heart attack!

So the elder daughter buried him again, and this time he was apparently dressed the way she wanted to remember him. My memory of my cousin tells me that he would have been amused with all this foolishness.  Poor guy continues his eternal journey in a pair of shorts and a tank top with God only knows what type of hair style.  Can't help but wonder if she placed a carton of beer in the casket!

Oh, the pondering of it all.............................................see you next time