MI - Son bemoans public frenzy over private moment in Warren park

[BetteDavisEyes]

This article is for subscribers and may have a paywall. Report is about a son's request for a private moment with his mother's open casket because he was unable to attend the funeral in New York. Someone posted a photo of the open casket on Facebook and police showed up to investigate. Bizarre.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/macomb-county/2024/09/06/open-casket-son-bemoans-public-frenzy-over-private-moment-in-warren-park-funeral-director/75105100007/

 

[azure]

97-year-old woman’s body displayed in open casket at public park

A suburban Detroit park with baseball fields, a playground and picnic tables had an unusual addition this week.

www.wtap.com

"A suburban Detroit park with baseball fields, a playground and picnic tables had an unusual addition this week: an open casket containing the body of a 97-year-old woman who used to live in the area."

Article in OP is paywalled for me.

 

[Vern]

Non paywalled article here:

97-year-old woman's body displayed in open casket at Michigan public park, police now investigating

A picture of an open casket at Butcher Park in Warren has gone viral prompting a police investigation after a flood of calls.

www.cbsnews.com

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Non paywalled article here:

97-year-old woman's body displayed in open casket at Michigan public park, police now investigating

A picture of an open casket at Butcher Park in Warren has gone viral prompting a police investigation after a flood of calls.

www.cbsnews.com

Actually, this link has a paywall, so I'm unable to read.

 

[Vern]

Actually, this link has a paywall, so I'm unable to read.

Odd. I usually get those because I am in Canada, but didn't have this one blocked; I could read the entire thing.

 

[abyquinn]

Non paywalled article here:

97-year-old woman's body displayed in open casket at Michigan public park, police now investigating

A picture of an open casket at Butcher Park in Warren has gone viral prompting a police investigation after a flood of calls.

www.cbsnews.com

This is a small clip taken from Vern’s story on cbs

WARREN, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - A picture of an open casket on display at Butcher Park in Warren has gone viral on social media.

A Warren resident who did not want to be identified lives nearby and said she heard about the open casket on social media and immediately drove to the park to see if it was true.

"Like everyone else, I would say I was curious," she said. "So I decided to come on up and check it out for myself and see if it truly was an open casket with a deceased person in the casket."

There is also a man seen in the photo sitting on a bench next to the open casket. She said he was there when she arrived at the park, so she approached him to ask what was happening.

"He quickly identified himself as a funeral director from New York and that he was transporting this deceased woman to Michigan to be buried, and the cemetery she was being buried at would not allow an open casket graveside, so this gentleman decided to stop at Butcher Park in Warren to allow her remaining family that lived nearby to come and pay their final respects so they could see her one last time so they could have their closure," she said.

There were family members not able to make it to the open casket service in New York, so the director set the casket up in the park. Police showed up but no laws were broken. His heart was in the right place but this wouldn’t have been the ideal spot to view Grandma for the last time. MOO

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Perhaps this sort of thing is common in New York, so the funeral director didn't think it would be an issue in Michigan.

 

[kaen]

Perhaps this sort of thing is common in New York, so the funeral director didn't think it would be an issue in Michigan.

LOL. Not common in NY. Not sure what the guy was thinking. Perhaps all were trying to save money by not having to transfer the remains to a parlor in MI.

 

[abyquinn]

Perhaps this sort of thing is common in New York, so the funeral director didn't think it would be an issue in Michigan.

That’s exactly what it seemed to be, BDE. The director was doing a nice thing for her family, it was completely legal. It was just not typical for Warren, MI. I can see where it would be very odd to be crossing the park with kids, coming across an open casket.

Personally, I would not be comfortable paying respects to my mom or my grandmother with spectators coming by just to see what was going on. Maybe there was somewhere with a little more privacy.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Police: Open casket at Warren park was part of funeral procession

A photo posted online sent shockwaves and some shivers through social media and the neighborhood.

www.fox2detroit.com

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

LOL. Not common in NY. Not sure what the guy was thinking. Perhaps all were trying to save money by not having to transfer the remains to a parlor in MI.

A plausible explanation. No doubt there were significant costs incurred with the transfer of the remains from New York to Michigan, including the services of the funeral director who accompanied the remains to Michigan.

 

[LadyL]

Odd. I usually get those because I am in Canada, but didn't have this one blocked; I could read the entire thing.

me too and I'm in Canada too - I can read it

 

[Laura456]

I always dread open casket funerals, maybe because nobody I've known closely has passed away and had a funeral like that.

The person always looks so waxy, and it's not comforting at all, to me.

Just use me for science and cremate me, then have a celebration of life ceremony, easy peasy.

 

[LadyL]

I always dread open casket funerals, maybe because nobody I've known closely has passed away and had a funeral like that.

The person always looks so waxy, and it's not comforting at all, to me.

Just use me for science and cremate me, then have a celebration of life ceremony, easy peasy.

pretty much everyone I know has had open casket so I guess it's just what we're used to
but yeah, I always think 'that doesn't look like them' in the moment