The family of a 93-year-old woman wants to know why a New York funeral home decided to cremate her against her final wishes.
Euvy Rodney had one last request before her death: to be buried in her home country of Guyana near her grandmother, the family told ABC 7. She died earlier this month.
Rodney was the mother of 11 children. Her family includes 55 grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
The family said she was taken to the J. Foster Phillips Funeral Home in Jamaica, Queens, where she was allegedly cremated.
The funeral home has yet to confirm to Atlanta Black Star what happened to Rodney.
Fight for Answers
Civil rights leaders and the family’s attorney allege not only was she cremated, but the family had to “jump through hoops” to reclaim her ashes.
“We have lost our mom twice. We have lost her in death, we have lost her body, we have no closure for our mother,” Christine Weaver, one of Rodney’s children, told ABC 7. “For all she has done on earth, that’s how you treat her?”
Civil rights leader Rev. Kevin McCall held a news conference in front of the funeral home on Monday. He called for an investigation into the facility to figure out why Rodney was allegedly cremated against the family’s wishes.
“We are calling for this funeral home to be shut down immediately,” McCall said. “There was no conversation at all regarding cremation. Everyone in the family knew, the funeral home knew that she wanted to be buried, but the funeral home failed to do their job.”
The family’s attorney, John Eiefrakis, said the directions for how Rodney wanted to be buried were given to the funeral home.
“It’s a section that says burial or cremation, and it said burial,” Eiefrakis said. “So they knew clearly that it was not supposed to be a cremation.”
The attorney added that there has been no communication with the funeral home since he launched his investigation.
“Cremation was never considered at all. It was never on the table. Miss Rodney’s wishes were extremely clear to her family because her desire was not only to go home to Guyana to be buried in her family plot,” he said. “She had a very specific wish to be alongside her grandmother.”
Many of Rodney’s family members also called for the New York State Bureau of Funeral Directing to investigate the facility.
Family Says They’re Heartbroken
“We are broken. Our mother was so much more than this tragedy. She was a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, friend, and so forth,” Romona Rodney Park, another one of Rodney’s children, said. “She was a woman of irreverent faith and friend faithfully, loved unconditionally, and devoted her life to the caring of others. She deserved to be treated with the same dignity and respect.”
She collapsed into McCall’s arms during the news conference.
“No funeral home should be called a funeral home if they don’t have dignity and they don’t have respect for a family – they robbed this family of that,” McCall said. “We are calling on this funeral home to be shut down immediately. The state needs to investigate.”
The funeral home sent ABC 7 the following statement:
“Our hearts are with the family affected by this situation. We are deeply sorry for the distress this has caused, and are committed to supporting them with care, compassion, and respect during this incredibly difficult time.
“For generations, J. Foster Phillips has been a trusted, family-owned funeral home, serving our community for 97 years with care and compassion. As a third-generation business, we have always been committed to treating every individual with dignity, respect, and the highest standard of care.
“We remain committed to accountability and to honoring the trust placed in us by the families we serve.
“Out of respect for those involved, we will not be providing further comment at this time.”
Atlanta Black Star reached out to the funeral home, the family, McCall, and Eiefrakis for more but has not heard back.
