Tuesday, July 9 Lawyer: Williams asked in his will to be cremated Associated Press |
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INVERNESS, Fla. -- Ted Williams' will said he wanted to be cremated and have his ashes scattered in the Florida Keys, an attorney for the baseball great's daughter said Tuesday.
John Heer, an attorney for Williams' daughter Barbara Joyce Williams Ferrell, said he hadn't read the will as of early Tuesday, but attorneys for Williams' estate had told him the slugger's wishes.
''All versions were consistent that he wanted to be cremated and his ashes would have been spread over the Florida Keys,'' Heer said from his Cleveland office. Williams was an avid angler who fished for decades in the Keys.
Pam Price and Bill Boyles, attorneys for the Williams' estate, didn't immediately return a phone call to their Orlando office.
Williams, the last major league hitter to bat better than .400 in a season, died Friday in Florida at age 83.
Ferrell has accused her half brother, John Henry Williams, of moving their father's body from a Florida funeral home to Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Scottsdale, Ariz., where bodies are frozen.
Ferrell says John Henry Williams wants to preserve their father's DNA, perhaps to sell it in the future.
Ferrell's husband, Frederick ''Mark'' Ferrell, said Tuesday that Williams' son first proposed the idea of freezing Williams' body more than a year ago.
Contrary to some published reports, Mark Ferrell said his wife was not estranged from her father. She was estranged from her half brother over what to do about their father's body.
''He proposed the cryonics thing to my wife, and she went nuts and said, 'You're not going to do it to my dad,''' Mark Ferrell said. ''There was no estrangement between Ted and his daughter. The estrangement was caused by the cryonics issue in June 2001, and it was caused by John Henry, not Ted Williams.''
Williams and his daughter lived just miles apart but had not seen each other since August, Heer said.
Heer said Tuesday night that attorneys for the estate likely would file Williams' will with the Florida courts later this week, and planned to ask a judge to referee the battle over the remains. He and his client plan to see what happens before deciding whether to take further legal action.
No one answered the phone at John Henry Williams' office, and a business associate said Monday he was out of town.
Ted Williams is being honored Tuesday night at the All-Star Game in Milwaukee.
Ferrell didn't immediately return a call for comment Tuesday. But in an interview with The Associated Press last Saturday, she said, ''John Henry is trying to make money off my father's dead body, and I'm not going to be quiet any more.''
Karla Steen, a spokeswoman for Alcor, would not confirm Monday whether Williams' body was at the facility. Ferrell has said she was told by the funeral home that the body had been taken to Arizona. |
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