NOT THE SHARPEST KNIVES IN THE DRAWER: A-Tisket, A-Tasket. Who’s That In The Casket?
Janie Holsey knew the body in the casket at James L. Hawkins Funeral Home wasn’t her husband. Her children knew it wasn’t their father. In fact, the folks at the viewing kept whispering to one another, “That's not Tex,” reports Philadelphia Daily News:
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, 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. …
"It wasn't my dad," Wearing said. "It was some other person lying in my dad's suit and clothes.
Just before the funeral was to start at Tindley Temple United Methodist Church, the funeral director admitted to the mix-up. And all heck broke loose: Horrified relatives began yelling, screaming and “running around in circles.” One had a seizure, another had an asthma attack and both ended up in the hospital.
Meanwhile, Roberts’ body was located - at another funeral home owned by the same outfit - and sped to the church. The hearse must’ve hit a pot hole along the way because when the door was flung open, a leg was hanging out of the casket. There was more screaming and pandemonium, but no one else had to be taken to the hospital.
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