This week we said goodbye to the man known as Route 29 Batman, Lenny Robinson. Robinson dedicated his life to brightening the lives of sick children by assuming the role of Batman. We were also saddened to hear of the tragic death of 3 brave firefighters who were fighting wildfires near Twisp, Oregon. In other news, we learned why Kathy Lee Gifford chose not to have a funeral for her husband, football great Frank Gifford, and why Rome is outraged over a mobster’s funeral.
Aug 20, 2015–seattletimes.com: One was a 20-year-old physics student and theater fan, another a former starting right tackle with a master’s degree. The oldest and most experienced had just graduated from college with a degree in natural resources and was planning a career in public-land management. All were seasonal firefighters working for the U.S. Forest Service when they perished Wednesday in a firestorm on a sun-baked hillside near Twisp, Okanogan County. Their names: Tom Zbyszewski, Andrew Zajac and Richard Wheeler.
On our blog: Remembering the fallen firefighters of Twisp, Oregon
Aug 20, 2015–nydailynews.com: Hundreds of mourners wearing Batman clothes, Batman gear and even Batman yarmulkes packed a Maryland synagogue Wednesday to say goodbye to their local superhero — Lenny Robinson, better known around there as “Batman.” “He was a character, he was a pistol, he was wonderful,” Robinson’s shaken father, Larry, told ABC2 about his fallen son, who dressed up as the Caped Crusader to visit children in area hospitals… Read the full story
Aug 20, 2015–www.refinery29.com: “I wasn’t some kooky kid who was collecting dead animals and keeping them in jars,” Amber Carvaly explains. “I was obsessed with The Little Mermaid and I had so many Barbies; I was just like everybody else. But I also loved The Nightmare Before Christmas. I really like the romanticism of death.” Carvaly’s red hair is pulled into a tight bun and she’s sitting behind a large wooden desk that takes up half of Undertaking L.A.’s just-opened office. East Hollywood’s latest funeral home isn’t what you’d expect from a mortuary — but then again, neither is Carvaly…
Aug 20, 2015–abcnews.go.com: Romans aghast at a spiraling mafia probe found new reason for outrage Thursday over the Hollywood-style funeral of a purported local crime boss: It was replete with a gilded, horse-drawn carriage, flower petals tossed from a helicopter and the theme music from “The Godfather” playing outside the church… Read the full story
Aug 19, 2015–hollywoodlife.com: Kathie Lee Gifford, 62, eschewed a normal funeral when it came to honoring her late husband, Frank Gifford, who died at the age of 84 on August 9. Frank’s family instead threw a party to celebrate his life and their love for the legendary sportscaster in the days following his tragic death. Kathie Lee had her reasons for why a funeral wasn’t the way to honor her husband of nearly 30 years… Read the full story
Aug 18, 2015–wrma.org: In America, death is not something we often talk about unless we are forced to by circumstance or tragedy. But at hospitals, death is an everyday occurrence and medical workers must quickly learn to deal with it. But how do they cope? WMRA’s Kara Lofton reports on one initiative, called “The Pause,” that started at the University of Virginia Medical Center two years ago and is now slowly being adopted by hospitals all over the country… Read the full story
Aug 16, 2015–cnn.com: Before she started photographing death, Cathrine Ertmann had never seen a body. Viewed through her lens while standing in a morgue, it was less frightening and more of a quiet mystery to explore.” I was amazed about how peaceful and undramatic everything looked,” she said. “I got the chance to look at death without it being my own relatives, without feelings involved and it gave me a peace. The imagination of what death looks like is way worse than what I experienced.” Read the full story
Aug 16, 2015–hopesandfears.com: We’ve made innovations in how we live, but what about how we’re laid to rest? With the ever increasing environmental toll caused by traditional funerals, the growing modern burial movement seeks to find simpler, more graceful ways of returning to the earth; burying unembalmed bodies in biodegradable coffins or shrouds, putting QR codes on headstones, creating facilities for human composting in city centers… Read the full story
Aug 15, 2015–nypost.com: It’s the place New York City’s elite are dying to get into: Frank E. Campbell, the illustrious funeral home that has waked everyone from Rudolph Valentino to Biggie Smalls, John Lennon to Joan Rivers, Walter Cronkite to Heath Ledger.
At Campbell, confidentiality is key, and even in death — that great equalizer — celebrities are supposed to go out with more elegance and style than the rest of us. Jackie O, for example, was embalmed in her apartment so that the press wouldn’t get a photo of her in a body bag. Instead, she was removed from her Fifth Avenue apartment building in a casket… Read the full story
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