Tag: Funeral

Mic Smith/Associated Press CHARLESTON, S.C. — Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Tuesday remembered Ernest F. Hollings as “a giant in this state and nation” who evolved to “write the great story of our times.” Speaking at the funeral of Mr. Hollings, the former South Carolina senator who died this month at 97, Mr. Biden hailed his longtime friend and former colleague, a one-time segregationist, as the embodiment of this state’s growth. “People can change,” Mr. Biden said of Mr. Hollings, who was known as Fritz, adding, “We can learn from the past and build a better future.” Mr. Biden’s trip here marked his first visit to an early nominating state this year and came just a week before he is expected to make his long-anticipated entry into the Democratic presidential primary. His somber appearance at The Citadel, South Carolina’s military college and Mr. Hollings’s alma mater, was not the 2020 debut the former vice president and his aides were planning. But his eulogy underscored Mr. Biden’s deep ties to this pivotal state with its high percentage of black voters — and the promise and peril of his candidacy. Mr. Biden once described Mr. Hollings as his best friend in the Senate. Such older Americans here and beyond make up the core of Mr. Biden’s initial base, early polls indicate, and are the sort of reliable participants in primaries that candidates covet. And Mr. Hollings was not the first South Carolina political icon Mr. Biden has honored: In 2003, he delivered a eulogy for Strom Thurmond, a longtime Republican senator and onetime Dixiecrat nominee for president. “Fritz grew and I grew along with him.” Neither he nor Mr. Biden mentioned the fact that the Confederate flag was raised atop South Carolina’s Capitol dome by a state legislator in 1961 when Mr. Hollings was governor. The flag would remain on the Statehouse grounds until 2015, when it was removed in the aftermath of the racist killing of black parishioners at Charleston’s Mother Emanuel church. “He put the Confederate flag on the Statehouse that we had to fight to take down,” said Melissa Watson, a Charleston-area teacher and local Democratic official who is black.

Sully, a Labrador who served as President George H.W. Bush's service dog, visits the former President as he lies in state in the US Capitol Rotunda.

That is the fear of Britain's funeral directors after MEPs voted to restrict the use of formaldehyde. And - in a concession secured by a Conservative MEP - it has delayed the ban on the substance for three years to allow the industry to adjust. UK funeral prices to be probed Funerals 'rushed' amid lack of crematoria The Health and Safety Executive said it would welcome any measures to help controls but is trying to get more time for the funeral industry to adjust. The European Commission has proposed formalising exposure limits. Formaldehyde, which can cause irritation and has been linked to nasopharyngeal cancer, is one of five industrial chemicals to be added to the European Commission's list of restricted carcinogens and mutagens. The UK funeral industry says it recognises that formaldehyde, which is also used in hospitals and in a wide variety of industrial processes, has been linked to serious illnesses. And if an alternative to formalin cannot be found, then the "culture" around Christian burials and cremations in the UK, will have to change, with funeral directors advising more families against seeing their loved one in the coffin, although ultimately it is the family's choice whether to do so. The funeral industry estimates between 50% and 55% of cadavers in the UK undergo some form of embalming so they can be viewed by relatives. The embalming process Bodies have been preserved after death since at least 4,000 BC Embalming using formaldehyde and other chemicals began in the late 1800s to preserve bodies for scientific study It involves the draining of the deceased's fluids and the injection of chemical solutions into the arteries, tissues and sometimes organs The process takes about an hour and embalmers are required to wear protective clothing and respirators "Visiting a loved one in the chapel of rest can be both a distressing and comforting experience for families, and it is also proven to be an important part of the grieving process," says Jon Levett, chief executive of the National Association of Funeral Directors. "For funeral directors, embalming offers the only realistic solution that will delay deterioration and present the deceased person at peace and as close to their appearance before death as possible; particularly where there has been a post mortem, examination, traumatic death - or to accommodate the increasing gap between death and a funeral which is now often two or three weeks.

Live at 11 am ET. Senator John McCain Lies in State at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Paul Ryan to speak at the memorial service. FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour…

The former Arizona senator remembers Sen. John McCain at a private ceremony at the Arizona State Capitol. FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service dedicated to delivering breaking news as well as political and business news. The…

Mike remembers Verne Troyer after his passing, talks about his funeral, working with him on Austin Powers, and reveals that one of the first things people have always asked him about is Mini-Me. Miley Cyrus on 'F**K YOU' Tweet Taking…

EPA-EFE/Siyabulela Duda/GCIS HANDOUT Saturday’s official funeral for the world to say a final farewell to Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was always going to be a political affair, saying much about our politics of the day. But he may well have been upstaged by President Cyril Ramaphosa who has probably provided the best diagnosis of our problems yet delivered by a sitting politician. This is the kind of thing we have come to expect in our politics. In other words, this was, for almost everyone involved, a unique opportunity to make a point while reaching a previously impossible audience. In the end, many people were simply waiting for Julius Malema to speak. One must question why Malema used this stage to make this particular point. The people who attack them on Twitter did not do that, and have no experience or insight into what that must have been like. Ramaphosa was able to offer something very few politicians have given us recently: an accurate, thoughtful and caring diagnosis of our problems. Malema’s critics would no doubt suggest that it demonstrates that he can be relatively easily upstaged, that while his emotion, which is almost always anger, can be effective, the presentation of a thoughtful solution is also effective politics, especially in the long term. Ramaphosa is the man in charge, he is the one with real political power.