John-Henry Williams said he wanted to be cryonically preserved at the same facility as his famous father.
By COLLEEN JENKINS
Published March 13, 2004
This time, no oil-stained note or dueling documents are casting doubt on the wishes of the deceased.
John-Henry Williams could not have been clearer.
The son of legendary slugger Ted Williams wants his remains cryonically preserved and housed with his father's, according to a will filed this week at the Citrus County Courthouse, days after the younger Williams died of leukemia at age 35.
The death of his famous father two years earlier led to a legal circus.
The father's will said the Red Sox slugger wanted cremation. A note the younger Williams said he found in his trunk indicated that he, his father and sister all wanted cryonic preservation.
Now, the Hall of Famer's look-alike but less athletic son has taken a traditional legal route to remove any doubt.
John-Henry Williams' will specifically dictates that his body be "cryonically suspended" by Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Scottsdale, Ariz., the facility where his father's remains are kept.
The formal document is a far cry from the handwritten note John-Henry and younger sister Claudia Williams produced in 2002 to prove their father wanted to be cryonically frozen after death.
The note contained the threesome's pact to one day be reunited by science. All three allegedly signed it.
The scrap of paper didn't satisfy those who believed the Splendid Splinter wanted to be cremated, as stated in his 1996 will.
Among the skeptics was Bobby-Jo Williams Ferrell, Ted Williams' daughter from his first marriage, who sued her half-siblings to win the release of their father's remains.
Ferrell eventually dropped the suit.
John-Henry Williams learned of his leukemia in October. A bone marrow transplant from Claudia in December was unsuccessful.
In the days after John-Henry's death at a Los Angeles hospital, family spokesman and Boston-based lawyer Peter Sutton refused to comment on what he deemed a private, family matter.
Two Boston newspapers, citing unnamed family sources, said the remains had gone to Alcor.
Besides confirming John-Henry's wishes on cremation, the will, dated Dec. 22, pointedly leaves out Bobby-Jo Williams Ferrell.
"I have specifically herein made no provision for my half-sister, Barbara Joyce Ferrell," it reads.
Mark Ferrell, Bobby-Jo's husband, said he wasn't surprised.
"I can assure you Barbara Joyce Ferrell could care less," he said Friday.
News that John-Henry Williams appeared to have made good on his part of the pact with his father and sister did nothing to convince Mark Ferrell that the oil-stained note was credible.
He maintains it was forged.
"I have not seen John-Henry's will," Ferrell said. "If his last wish was to be frozen, that was his choice. Ted Williams' will stated he wanted to be cremated, but he never had a choice."
The younger Williams' will names Claudia Williams and Albert Cassidy, a trustee in the elder Williams' probate case, as the personal representatives of the estate.
The estate includes his bank accounts, securities and personal property, the value of which has not yet been determined, court records show.
The tangible property, the will states, consists of sports memorabilia, household furnishings, automobiles and clothing.
The will makes no mention of Lisa Renee Williams, who, according to other documents in the probate file, was John-Henry's wife.
Alcor's chief would not confirm Friday whether the remains of John-Henry Williams are at the facility.
"It is our policy here at Alcor Life Extension not to comment on any patients that we have here in stasis," said Joe Waynick, Alcor's chief executive officer. "We don't comment on those things for any of our patients."
But in a separate interview Friday, a lawyer suggested that the wishes in the younger Williams' will have been carried out.
Pamela O. Price, the Orlando lawyer who filed the probate case in Citrus County, confirmed that Peter Sutton, the Boston lawyer, has said John-Henry is now with Ted.
