Aggregate Death
Supreme Court in Utah Allows Woman to Marry Her Dead Boyfriend
This out of SALT LAKE CITY via the Standard:
The Utah Supreme Court has ruled that a Farr West woman can posthumously be married to her late husband.
The ruling, released Tuesday, sides with Janetta Gardiner, who filed for marriage to her romantic partner Kenneth Vanderwerff, who died in April 2010.
Vanderwerff, who was 78 when he died, was in a relationship with Gardiner since 2007. A few months after he died, Gardiner filed a petition for a posthumous marriage between the two, making her the administrator of his estate.
Relatives of Vanderwerff filed a formal intervention of Gardiner’s petition, which the 2nd District Court of Ogden granted, dismissing the marriage petition. Gardiner appealed to the Supreme Court, which reinstated the marriage.
Okay. This story is a little weird. But, the situation behind this “marriage” isn’t weird at all … in fact, it’s very common.
The reason Janetta Gardiner wanted a legal marriage to her deceased partner Kenneth Vanderwerff had to do with Kenneth’s monetary and property assets.
Apparently, when Kenneth died, Kenneth’s extended family wanted to administer Kenneth’s estate, leaving Janetta without any of Kenneth’s assets. Janetta argued that otherwise and was eventually granted her marriage to Kenneth, thus enabling her to administer Kenneth’s estate … presumably to herself.
Some people in Janetta and Kenneth’s situation assume that they have a “common-law marriage”. But, it’s important to remember that common-law marriage is only recognized in these states.
- Alabama.
- Colorado.
- District of Columbia.
- Georgia (if created before 1/1/97)
- Idaho (if created before 1/1/96)
- Iowa.
- Kansas.
- Montana.
AND common-law marriage isn’t the equivalent of a domestic partnership.
Most (all?) of Janetta’s problems could have been resolved if KENNETH HAD A WILL.
A will is the best way to resolve some problems that can arise in blended families. If you’re not married to your partner; or you are married and your family is blended; or you’re married and you family ISN’T blended; or you’re not married and have no plans to ever be married … prepare a will. For serious. It’s important. Don’t delay.
11 More “Wax Faces”
A couple days ago I posted “21 Spectacular Examples of what Mortuary Students do in Mortuary School”. There were a few honorably mentions that showed up late to the party. Here’s 11:
By Justin Tate
By Chrissy Stanifer Bushby
by Taylor Rae
By Amanda Roman
By LaRitta Norseweather
By Gypsydawnrose Antra
by Louise Pachella
By Carla Lillian Timothy
By Chelsea Miles-Pinkerton
By Taylor Gustin
By Jessica Bowser
The Morbid Obsession of Carl Tanzler
This story is exceptionally morbid and weird:
Via Wikipedia:
Carl Tanzler, or sometimes Count Carl von Cosel (February 8, 1877 – July 3, 1952), was a German-born radiologic technologist at the United States Marine Hospital in Key West, Florida who developed a morbid obsession for a young Cuban-American tuberculosis patient, Elena Milagro “Helen” de Hoyos (July 31, 1909 – October 25, 1931), that carried on well after the disease had caused her death.[1] In 1933, almost two years after her death, Tanzler removed Hoyos’s body from its tomb, and lived with the corpse at his home for seven years until its discovery by Hoyos’s relatives and authorities in 1940.[2]
One evening in April, 1933, Tanzler crept through the cemetery where Hoyos was buried and removed her body from the mausoleum, carting it through the cemetery after dark on a toy wagon, and transporting it to his home. He reportedly said that Elena’s spirit would come to him when he would sit by her grave and serenade her corpse with a favorite Spanish song. He also said that she would often tell him to take her from the grave.[1] Tanzler attached the corpse’s bones together with wire and coat hangers, and fitted the face with glass eyes. As the skin of the corpse decomposed, Tanzler replaced it with silk cloth soaked in wax and plaster of paris. As the hair fell out of the decomposing scalp, Tanzler fashioned a wig from Hoyos’s hair that had been collected by her mother and given to Tanzler not long after her burial in 1931.[4] Tanzler filled the corpse’s abdominal and chest cavity with rags to keep the original form, dressed Hoyos’s remains in stockings, jewelry, and gloves, and kept the body in his bed. Tanzler also used copious amounts of perfume, disinfectants, and preserving agents, to mask the odor and forestall the effects of the corpse’s decomposition.[7]
In October, 1940, Elena’s sister Florinda heard rumors of Tanzler sleeping with the disinterred body of her sister, and confronted Tanzler at his home, where Hoyos’s body was eventually discovered. Florinda notified the authorities, and Tanzler was arrested and detained. Tanzler was psychiatrically examined, and found mentally competent to stand trial on the charge of “wantonly and maliciously destroying a grave and removing a body without authorization.”[1]After a preliminary hearing on October 9, 1940 at the Monroe County Courthouse in Key West, Tanzler was held to answer on the charge, but the case was eventually dropped and he was released, as the statute of limitations for the crime had expired.[1][4]
Shortly after the corpse’s discovery by authorities, Hoyos’s body was examined by physicians and pathologists, and put on public display at the Dean-Lopez Funeral Home, where it was viewed by as many as 6,800 people.[6] Hoyos’s body was eventually returned to the Key West Cemetery where the remains were buried in an unmarked grave, in a secret location, to prevent further tampering.[1]
