Funeral Disaster in Park Slope

dailyheights

carmen cruz writes:

Hello, my name is Carmen. I am writing regarding an injustice I have faced by New York's own legal system. For the past seven months my father battled progressive lung cancer. For the past 18 yrs of my life, he never missed an assembly, baseball game, softball game, school play or graduation. He would surprise my younger siblings and I with bar-b-ques, trips to the statue of liberty or spontaneous rides throughout Brooklyn. However, the cancer consumed him, and on May 30th, 2008, he died in my arms.

Although that may seem to be the worst part, there's more.
His estranged family of over 20 years came back into the picture and through a legal battle, took his body for a private funeral, an act that devastated my family. You see, he had a wife that he married in 1963, and in 1988 he left her for my mother, only he never divorced her. So now, she came to the court with her marriage certificate, and took his body from my family, the family who stood by his side throughout his illness. The courts granted her to have the right to bury him, so now my younger siblings of ages 16, 15 and 11, will not be able to say goodbye.

Our community within Park Slope Brooklyn feels that the courts made the wrong choice, so we are holding a small memorial service in his honor on Monday June 9th, outside of our home, at 86 5th ave bklyn, NY 11217. The community will hold this memorial as his funeral, without the actual chance to have his body, so we can let him go in peace with the family who loved him.

We are looking for as much support as we can get from local stations to show the world that the law does not look out for the heart, because if you have a heart, my story will touch you. Please try to show support for my father, Luis Cruz, in the community of Park Slope.

filmlover44

It's too bad that he never divorced her and married her mother.

tajmb

I'm afraid Ms Cruz may have bigger problems than simply not having claim to his body (no matter how painful they find that). His wife will legally inherit everything he owned. I hope for her sake that the home she mentions is in her mother's name rather than his.

bullyboy

I'm so sorry for your loss.