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The death certificate bolsters the claims of Ted Williams' daughter that his body was frozen at a cryonics lab.
By ALEX LEARY and THOMAS C. TOBIN
© St. Petersburg Times, published July 13, 2002
After a week of allegations and unconfirmed reports, the death certificate for Ted Williams was filed Friday, providing the first official clue about the location of his body.
The document states that the body has been moved out of Florida and was not cremated, buried or donated after the Boston Red Sox legend died July 5 at age 83.
Those facts jibe with the story of Bobby-Jo Williams Ferrell, the oldest daughter of Ted Williams, who says she was told by a source that her father's body has been frozen at a cryonics lab in Arizona.
Ferrell, who lives near her father's house in Hernando in Citrus County, says Ted Williams wanted to be cremated and that freezing him is an "insane plan" by her brother, John-Henry Williams.
She has called on two of her father's friends, former President George Bush and former U.S. Sen. John Glenn, to help. But both men said Friday they would not interfere.
"President Bush, who was truly very good friends with Ted Williams, is definitely staying out of the controversy. He considers it a personal, family matter," said Jean Becker, chief of staff for the former president.
Glenn released a statement that said: "In my visits and conversations with my friend, Ted Williams, we discussed his recovery and living. We had no conversations regarding his wishes for the handling of his remains. ... Ted Williams above all else loved his family and they loved him as well. I am confident the bonds of family will guide them to a resolution of this very painful issue."
According to Ferrell, Ted Williams' body is in frozen storage at Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Scottsdale, Ariz. The organization "suspends" human bodies and heads in nitrogen and replaces their body fluids in the hope that someday science will find a way to revive them.
Aside from Ferrell's assertion and several media reports, however, there has been nothing to confirm the status of Williams' body. Alcor has declined to comment, as has John-Henry Williams.
Ferrell's lawyer had said the executor of Ted Williams' estate would file the will this week, but that did not occur.
While not conclusive, the death certificate appeared to support Ferrell's contention, even though it listed the location of the body as "undetermined."
"They can say undetermined, but we know where it is," said Mark Ferrell, Bobby-Jo Ferrell's husband. "It's at the Alcor lab in Scottsdale, and we are going to get that body back."
Dwight Hooper of Hooper Funeral Home, where Williams body initially was taken, declined to explain why the location of the body is undetermined.
Also Friday, a former Williams' aide said John-Henry Williams pitched the idea of cryonics as early as 1996.
Frank Brothers said the Hall of Famer was at the breakfast table in his Citrus County home when his son asked, "Dad, what do you want to do when you die?"
John-Henry Williams followed that question with another: "How about being frozen?"
"Ted said, 'You're crazy. I don't want to be frozen.' And then John-Henry said, 'You know, we can just freeze your head,"' recalled Brothers, who worked for Williams from 1994 to 1998 and 2000 to 2001, at which time, he said, John-Henry Williams fired him.
Brothers, 44, of Islamorada said Ted Williams expressed on more than one occasion that he wanted to be cremated and his ashes sprinkled over the Florida Keys, where he spent many years fishing.