Comment #1

Kaptainess — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 03:40:24 GMT

<br />I had this old man working with me and my brother on the stucco, he kept the day lively by saying when he worked for John Kelly Bricklaying that Princess Grace would beg him to go out and drink during the day!! ROFL!! Everyday was the same thing with this old man telling stories about him and Princess Grace. I was laughing all day, the more I laughed the more angry he would get and tell more stories, which I again laughed my head off. <br /><br />Then he had the nerve to say that I sho... [ More ]

Original Blog Entry: Wrong body sent to funeral

truesee — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 23:59:30 GMT

by Cathy Gandolfo Dann Cuellar

Funeral Fiasco: Wrong body sent to family

Wednesday, August 19, 2009 | 8:16 AM

SOUTH PHILADELPHIA - August 18, 2009 (WPVI) -- It was to have been a time to say farewell to 80-year-old Kenneth Roberts.

As if funerals aren't sad and emotional enough, what happened in South Philadelphia was a nightmare for the family and friends of Mr. Roberts.

The funeral was to be held at Tindley Temple United Methodist Church on South Broad Street Tuesday morning, but the body that was brought there was not that of Kenneth Monroe Roberts, a South Philadelphia resident and army veteran.

They kept trying to tell us that it was him and I knew it wasn't him, the wife of Kenneth Roberts, Janin Holsey, said.

The body of Kenneth Roberts and that of another man were mistakenly switched.

Family members who viewed the body on Monday say they knew something was wrong and told the funeral director.

I told them it wasn't my grandpop; all his grandkids came in here and said that's not their grandpop. We know what my grandpop looked like, that wasn't him, granddaughter Kenayah Cerban said.

The funeral home of James Hawkins at 17th and Federal Streets handled the arrangements. Tuesday morning, during the viewing and just before the funeral service began, the error was acknowledged.

She came in the service and said, 'we made a mistake, that's not your husband.' Everyone went into a rampage, sister-in-law Lois Bundy said.

The family waited an hour and a half and then Roberts' body finally arrived.

However, mourners were still horrified as the body was face down and partially hanging out of the ajar casket.

This is not right. I never in my life... and that's my dad and I just want it fixed, daughter Rhonda Warring said.

One man suffered a seizure and was taken to the hospital along with a woman suffering an asthma attack. The funeral was cancelled.

A similar scene played out across town at the Francis Funeral Home in Southwest Philadelphia.

Claire Beverly and her sister were laying to rest their father, Charles, when they too realized their father was not in the casket, but rather the body of Kenneth Roberts.

Id like an apology and make sure this doesn't happen to another person because this is ridiculous, Claire said.

Family members tell Action News both funeral homes are owned by Frankie Francis. Embalming is performed at the Francis Funeral home and the bodies are then transported to the services.

After repeated calls were not returned Action News went looking for answers, but found none as no one would explain what happened.

Family members say they've received the same response.

I'm lost for words. The words out of my mouth I don't think he wants to hear because this doesn't make sense, relative Melanie Oliver said.

The family of Kenneth Roberts is planning a small private funeral.

LINK TO VIDEO:

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/video?id=6971877

RELATED STORY

Beloved husband dad is mourned, but it's not his body in the casket

By KITTY CAPARELLA

Philadelphia Daily News

Wed, Aug. 19, 2009

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.

The late Kenneth Tex Roberts, 80, who died Monday of a heart attack, was a jovial, mustached, retired tractor-trailer driver who loved to tell jokes, play cards and help people when they were down.

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.

She was so nasty, pushing us out of the funeral home, said Rhonda Wearing, 52, the oldest of Roberts' three daughters.

So yesterday morning, Roberts' wife, eight children and three stepchildren stood for two hours greeting nearly 200 mourners inside Tindley church, at 742 S. Broad St.

I touched him, Wearing said. We kissed him. Some of us thought it was him.

About 11 a.m., just after the funeral director gave Holsey an American flag in honor of her husband's Army military service - he was discharged in 1954 - the director asked to speak with the immediate family in a second-floor conference room before the funeral was to start.

The director, whose name was not available, said: 'I'm sorry, it was a mix-up,' said Wearing. That was a hell of a mix-up.

It wasn't my dad, Wearing said. It was some other person lying in my dad's suit and clothes. He wasn't dark and short. He was brown-skinned, 5 foot 9, about 180 pounds, and wore glasses.

The man in the casket looked older than my father, she added. And that man had been killed, she said she was told.

Horrified relatives burst into tears in the conference room. One of Roberts' daughters yelled, Go get my father! A grandchild screamed, Where's Pop Pop?

They were crying and running around in circles, said Lois Bundy, 73, a sister-in-law. It was terrible, it was just chaos, it really was.

Distraught, hysterical mourners poured out of the church onto the sidewalk, while others tried to calm them down.

It traumatized all of us, Wearing said.

Keith Harris, 19, had a seizure and was rushed to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. An unidentified woman had an asthma attack and was also taken to a hospital, Wearing said.

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.

It was unspeakable, she added.

How do you not know the person [deceased] had a heart attack? Why did we have to stand in line looking at the casket at a guy who was not my father? Wearing asked.

WPVI-TV reported last night that Roberts' body had been in a casket for a funeral at the Francis Funeral Home, on Whitby Avenue at 52nd Street, West Philadelphia. Both funeral homes are under the same ownership, the station said.

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