Norfolk City Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Gordon, J Lloyd November 29, 1913
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/vafiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Suzy Ward Fleming wardflemin@aol.com August 5, 2017, 10:46 pm

Richmond Times Dispatch (Richmond, Virginia) Tuesday, December 2, 1913  
Begs That He Have Coffinless Burial and That Heart Be Cut Open

Norfolk Va., December 1-Probably the strangest burial ever heard of in 
Norfolk took place yesterday when the body of J. Lloyd Gordon, a well-to-do 
but eccentric citizen, was interred in Elmwood Cemetery.
Mr. Gordon asked that he be not buried in a coffin, but that his body simply 
be wrapped in a cloth and laid to rest in Mother Earth with only a board 
covering his face. The request was complied with, to the extent that a grave 
was dug coffin-shaped and the two sides of a coffin-shaped box were placed 
on the sides of the grave. There was no bottom, and the body was laid to 
rest on Mother Earth just as the decedent had asked. A. box top was neatly 
laid over the sides of the grave, and the dirt thrown in and the grave 
covered over. 
There were no carriages or mourners. The body was carried in an undertaker’s 
basket, and at the cemetery was lifted from the basket and deposited in the 
ground.
While on his deathbed Mr. Gordon request his doctor to “cut him open from 
the chin down,” after death. He requested this physician to cut into his 
heart to ascertain the cause of his death. His request was complied with.


Additional Comments:
Elmwood

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/norfolkcity/obits/g/gordon325nob.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/vafiles/

File size: 1.9 Kb