Norman Hendrickson, age 94, New York man dies on the way to wife’s funeral
An upstate New York man, Norman Hendrickson, 94, died in the limousine on the way to his late wife’s wake last Saturday.
Hendrickson’s body was laid in a casket next to his wife, Gwen, with the sign: ”Surprise – it’s a Double-Header – Norman and Gwen Hendrickson – February 16, 2013″ placed by the deceased couple’s daughter, Merrilyne.
Gwen and Norman Hendrickson
According to Yahoo! News, mourners were shocked when they arrived at Gwen’s viewing, but took the situation light-heartedly.
According to funeral director and friend, Elizabeth Nichols-Ross, the late couple laughed a lot and would’ve enjoyed the irony of the situation.
Daughter, Norma, believes the incident was a “twist of fate that couldn’t have been more fitting.”
Norma Hendrickson said her parents were buried side by side in the same plot on Wednesday, along with some of the ashes of their late son, who died in 2008, and a watercolor painting her sister Merrilyne had made for them.
Funeral director Elizabeth Nichols-Ross, a family friend, said the couple laughed a lot and would have enjoyed the irony of the situation – especially Norman, who loved jokes.
“I don’t blush easily, but he told ones that made you blush,” she said.
She joked with the family that their father, who was known to be thrifty, would have loved to save the costs of a second funeral, so she didn’t charge the family for two services.
“Oh, that doesn’t surprise me,” she quoted one mourner as saying. “He wanted to be with Gwen.'”
