Imagine it is lunch time at the funeral home you work at when you get a call from the hospital two miles away that you need to immediately bring the best casket you have to the hospital.  And, by the way, it is for the President of the United States.

That’s the call that Vernon B. O’Neal of O’Neal’s Funeral Home received on November 22, 1963 — 62 years ago last Saturday.  O’Neal happened to be the only person at the funeral home at the time and selected his top of the line unit —  a $3,995 (1963 prices) solid-bronze casket made by the Elgin Casket Company.  The other problem that O’Neal had is that casket weighed 400 pounds and he was by himself at the funeral home.

Editors Note:  This is our annual re-run of the Funeral Director Daily article of November 22, 2021. . . . .Saturday, November 22, 2025, represented the 62nd anniverssary of when American President John F. Kennedy was assasinated.  Historians are still trying to piece together all of the issues that led to the shooting that day.  There is also a story of the caskets that were used for President Kennedy’s transportation and burial. . . This is that story.

According to this incredible article which gives much of the “behind the scenes” work on President John F. Kennedy’s post-mortem care, O’Neal eventually got three more people to help him get the casket to Parkland Hospital.

I would suggest you read the article. . . if you were living at the time it will bring back memories.  If you were not living back then, you will see decisions made in a much more innocent world that had not even contemplated this situation.

For me, I was a 5-year old recuperating from a childhood surgery and playing in front of the television at home.  I saw the news report come across the screen and remember going into the kitchen where dad, who was home for lunch, and mom were at the table.  I can distinctly remember giving them the news of the President’s death that I had just heard on our black and white television monitor.

Here’s a little chronology, according to the article,  of what happened when O’Neal arrived at Parkland Hospital with the casket:

• O’Neal was met by the Secret Service and some Kennedy aides

• O’Neal and the emergency room nurses placed Kennedy in the casket (this casket was to be used for transport and no death care preparations had been done with the President)

• A disagreement ensued as the Secret Service and Kennedy’s aides were ready to bring the casket to Air Force 1.  The disagreement was between the Federal employees and the Dallas County Medical Examiner and a Justice of the Peace brought to the hospital to secure order.  Believe it or not, in 1963 there was not a Federal crime on the books for assassinating the President.  Because of such, Dallas County officials felt that the President’s potential murder case should be adjudicated in Dallas County and wanted an autopsy done there before allowing the body to leave Texas.

• According to the article, the Secret Service and other Federal employees forcibly made their way to the waiting Air Force 1 where the casket was lifted into the passenger section of the plane for the flight back to Washington, DC.

• Upon landing in Washington, DC, the President (and transport casket) was brought to Bethesda Naval Hospital in a Navy Ambulance for an autopsy.

• At Bethesda Naval Hospital the President was prepared for burial by members of Gawler’s  Funeral Home and placed in a $3,610 Marsellus casket made of African mahogany.  According to the article, a rosary was placed in the President’s hands.  Again, according to the article, the President’s brother and United States Attorney General Robert Kennedy made the decision, backed by the President’s wife, Jacqueline, to have a closed casket rather than an open casket.

While that story is interesting and historical. . . . .the question did remain for some time, “What happened to the original bronze casket that encased the President’s mortal remains from Dallas to Washington, DC?  It wasn’t until the summer of 1998 that archives were released that let the public know of its whereabouts.

So, piecing from this article and other articles written after information was released from the National Archives in 1998, here’s what happened to the casket.

President John F. Kennedy

First of all, Gawler’s Funeral Home in Washington, DC, stored the Dallas bronze casket in a warehouse.  In January 1964 O’Neal’s Funeral Home in Dallas billed the federal government in the amount of  $3,995 (according to the article, the federal government felt that this was an excessive price and negotiated a $500 discount from that listed and billed price) for the casket but it is believed that O’Neal preferred just to have the casket back in his possession.  It has been rumored that collector’s were willing to pay O’Neal upwards of $100,000 if he were to sell them the casket.

The federal government paid $3,160 as a paid in full price of the casket (taking an additional 10% discount off the negotiated price) to O’Neal and the General Services Administration took possession of the casket.  And while the House of Representatives passed a bill to preserve all evidence in the Kennedy assassination for evidentiary value, Congressman Earle Cabell from Texas argued that the casket had no evidentiary value and should be destroyed.

The Kennedy family agreed with Congressman Cabell and Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach agreed that the United States government had the right to dispose of it in a suitable manner.  Here, verbatim, is what the linked article says happened next:

“. . . On February 18, 1966, several members of the Air Force picked the casket up from a secure building at the National Archives just a few blocks from the White House. The casket was placed in an Air Force truck and transported to Andrews Air Force Base — the very place that the casket had originally landed in Washington with President Kennedy inside of it less than three years earlier. At Andrews, the Air Force team from the 93rdAir Terminal Squadron loaded the coffin on to a C130 transport plane.

To dispose of the casket, the Air Force had decided to take it to a place that JFK had once considered being buried: the Atlantic Ocean. Kennedy loved the sea and was said to have considered being buried at sea when he died. Of course, we know that Kennedy was buried at Arlington National Cemetery instead, but for many reasons, the Atlantic Ocean was the perfect place for the disposal of the casket that had brought him back to Washington following his assassination.

The Air Force wanted to ensure the integrity of the casket and not allow it to become a souvenir by someone who happened to come across it floating in the ocean or washing up on the shore. The C130 flew about 100 miles east of Washington, D.C. and descended to about 500 feet above the water. Before taking off, the Air Force had drilled over 40 holes into the casket and filled it with three 80-pound sandbags. It was also secured inside of a wooden crate and sealed shut in a manner so that it wouldn’t break apart upon hitting the water.

At approximately 10:00 AM, the C130’s tail hatch was opened and the casket was pushed out of the aircraft. Parachutes softened its fall and the coffin began to sink instantly. The airplane circled the drop zone for about 20 minutes to make sure that the coffin didn’t resurface, but they had no reason to worry. The Air Force had chosen an area of the Atlantic that saw very little air or sea traffic, and the casket settled in about 9,000 feet of water. The Kennedy Family was relieved that they no longer had to worry about a bloody casket going on display somewhere for the “morbidly curious”.”

So, there you have it.  An explanation of how the President’s body left Dallas in a bronze casket and he was buried in a hardwood casket.  I found it very interesting that over the years people did not pick up on that and ask more questions about it.  That, in itself, is probably reflective of the simpler, and more trusting, times we lived in back then.

May God Bless the memory of President John F. Kennedy.

Here’s a YouTube video of the televised death announcement of President Kennedy that I remember.

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Pennsylvania Story Highlights Very Real Problems of Unclaimed Remains and Unpaid Bills … and a Possible Solution

Jeffrey Butya was something of a local celebrity in the Robinson Township community of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Described in a February 12, 2025 tribute as a “local bar and grill manager, former rock ‘n roll roadie and perhaps most notably, one of the most unforgettable walk-ons in Penn State football history,” seemed to have made an impression on all who crossed his path. 

When Butya passed away on Friday, February 7 after suffering a stroke two months earlier, his family members were overwhelmed by the outpouring of condolences. Although he had never married and had no children, Butya and his uncle, brother, and sister-in-law were longtime owners and operators of several beloved family-owned taverns and neighborhood bars. It was Cassie Butya, the widow of Jeffrey Butya’s late brother Ken, who shared with the West Hill Gazette on February 12 that there would be no public viewing for Jeffrey, but that she and her sons would be announcing a “memorial get-together” when details were finalized.

In the public eye

Fast forward to last week — July 19, 2025, to be exact. This was the day Frank Garland, Partner and Editor at the West Hills Gazette, and the author who penned the beautiful tribute to Butya in the same paper on February 12, wrote an update piece entitled, “Unclaimed remains: The fate of Jeff Butya’s ashes.”

Garland shared a truly sad story — but one that is not at all foreign to deathcare professionals. The cremated remains of Jeffrey Butya were still in the custody of Thomas-Little Funeral Service Inc. and Crematory — along with an unpaid bill of $3,285 for the removal and direct cremation services that were authorized by Butya’s brother Brian in February. 

Five months in limbo

There had been no memorial get-togethers for the man who was known as “Booty” by his friends. In fact, the funeral home had achieved very little contact with the family, according to Thomas-Little funeral director Mya Garrett. Despite Brian Butya’s promises to “sell a couple of things” to pay the balance on February 17, and then stopped returning Garrett’s calls, which she placed on a weekly basis. Garrett had the same results with Jeffrey Butya’s sister-in-law, although Cassie Butya did contact the funeral home via email in April and responded to Garland’s email in June.

In these correspondences, Cassie Butya shared that her brother-in-law had left no will, no life insurance, or a power of attorney, and that the situation was “complex and delicate.” She added that she was not truly “connected” to the Butya family as she had remarried and was “not involved in any part of the funeral planning and decisions.” Lastly, she told the funeral home that “while she had the ‘utmost respect for Jeff and sympathize with the situation, funeral expenses are typically a personal responsibility and not one assumed by the employer. As such, we are not in a position to cover the outstanding balance.’”

Not as uncommon as one might think

Garrett told the Gazette that this was only the third time in 30 years that a family had failed to pay for a cremation or pick up their loved one’s cremains. She added that if no one claimed Butya’s remains, they would be buried in a community vault for unclaimed remains in a local cemetery.

Garland’s article included statements from representatives of the Pennsylvania Funeral Directors Association and the Pennsylvania Department of State about the growing problem of unclaimed remains and the lack of mandatory holding periods in most states. 

It was clear from the story that Garrett and her team at Thomas-Little went above and beyond what regulations might have mandated in her quest to reunite Jeffrey Butya’s remains with his family. She had reached out to everyone she could, including Jeffrey’s elderly father, George, who lived in a community care facility, and had created a GoFundMe page for donations toward the bill. As of July 19, the balance in the GoFundMe account was zero.

An unexpected result

That all changed after Garland published his article in the West Hills Gazette. The following day, in an article entitled “Family steps up to claim Jeff Butya’s ashes,” Garland reported that a family member had paid the outstanding balance and a nephew would be picking up the remains. The family member was none other than Cassie Butya, and the nephew was one of her sons. That nephew asked that the $70 that was donated to the GoFundMe account after Garland’s story was published be given to charity. 

“This is what needed to happen,” funeral director Mya Garrett said. “I’m glad someone stepped up for him and he’s going home.”

Lessons learned?

So, would publicly sharing a story about the unclaimed remains and unpaid bills in your funeral home result in a similar successful outcome? Maybe, but maybe not. Considering privacy laws, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), and the potential for defamation or libel accusations, it can be a slippery slope. However, in the case of Jeffrey Butya, Garland’s article appears to be a true human interest piece — a follow-up about a beloved community member and the sad fate of his remains. No matter what the intentions of the author, the end result of a zero balance, a donation to charity, and the reunion of Butya’s cremains with his family certainly seems worthwhile.

Back in early June of this year (2024) many of us were surprised by this announcement that public funeral home and cemetery operator Park Lawn Corporation (PLC) had agreed to be acquired and taken private by a group known as Veridian Holdings.  Probably most consequential in that announcement was that one of the partners in the buy-out agreement was preneed funeral home insurance company Homesteaders Life.

The announcement revealed that Canadian private equity firm Birch Hill Equity Partners Management would join Homesteaders Life as partners in the limited partnership.

The published price for the buy-out and take private move was CAN$ 26.50 per share making the transaction total about CAN $1.2 billion, which when equated to the US dollar at the time would equal a trasaction valued at about US $871 million.

On August 9, 2024, a press release from Park Lawn Corporation announced that the transaction had been concluded and Park Lawn Corporation would now be operating as a private company owned by a group that included Homesteaders Life and Birdh Hill Equity Partners Management.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  This marks the 2nd straight year that our “Business Story of the Year” involved a take private movement involving a private equity company.  Here’s a re-cap of our story for 2023 when Batesville was sold to private equity group Long Range Capital for a reported $761 million.

There seems to be a lot of money in private equity at this time as other Death Care companies had preceeded the Park Lawn Corporation sale.  In prior years we have seen the following public funeral home and cemetery operating companies be purchased by private equity groups:  StoneMor (now re-named Everstory), Dignity plc, and InvoCare.

Related Article:  Private Equity 2024 Mid-Year Report.  September 2024.  Cherry Bekaert

What makes the Park Lawn Corporation sale interesting is that one of the major parties to the acquisition is a preneed insurance provider — Homesteaders Life.  My guess is that management of that company sees a lot of synergies in owning funeral homes and has moving forward plans of not only bringing in more premium dollars but seeing an interesting path to deploy those premium dollars in investments that can then bring in more premium dollars. . . . . I can see the opportunities. . .

On the other hand, the partnership is not without risk for Homesteaders Life. . . . .some family funeral home owners now may see the company as a competitor (in the funeral business) and not as an ally (as a preneed partner).

In any regard. . . . there are enough sides to this story to be named our “Funeral Director Daily Business Story of the Year”.

Here’s some Funeral Director Daily articles that were published on this transaction:

June 4, 2024:  Park Lawn drops a bombshell:  Company announces it is going private

June 11, 2024:  Is Park Lawn now “In play”?

June 14, 2024:  A Seeking Alpha opinion on the proposed Park Lawn sale

June 18, 2024:  Will SCI take a run at Park Lawn Corporation?

July 10, 2024:  Will Carriage Services be next?

July 29, 2024:  It’s July 29.  Will Park Lawn be going private?  What does that mean for Homesteaders Life?

July 31, 2024:  Park Lawn shareholders approve sale, take-private move.

August 19, 2024:  Where was SCI?

Final Thought:  One thing that occured to me as I looked back over these articles is that for those of you who read Funeral Director Daily to keep tabs on the bigger companies in Death Care, we certainly covered this transaction from all possible angles that we could think of. . . . . certainly more than any other publication.  I think that is part of the reason that Funeral Director Daily continues to move to the forefront of Death Care business readership. . . . . In essence, we don’t just publish the press releases as they come in, we analyze, look into, theorize, and hypothesize almost all that could happen. . . Wondering what could happen and why  . . . . . that’s what makes us different.

Just writing that last paragraph reminds me of one of my favorite quotes. . . .and it is even Death Care related coming from the Ted Kennedy eulogy of his brother Robert (RFK) at his funeral. . . . I’ve thought of it often in my own life. . . . Here is that part of the eulogy:

Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today, pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will some day come to pass for all the world.

As he said many times, in many parts of this nation, to those he touched and who sought to touch him:

“Some men see things as they are and say why.
I dream things that never were and say why not.”

Join me as we move into 2025 by dreaming big for our nation and world and asking “Why not”?

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