KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The family of an army veteran believes a Kansas City funeral home should have provided their loved one with a better viewing service, even though the family admits they didn’t have the money to pay the standard fees.
Charles Wesley Stokes, 59, died last Tuesday, March 6. Family members didn’t have the cash to pay up front for the embalming and cremation, so Elite Funeral Chapel, 11525 Blue Ridge Blvd., agreed to let them pay in installments and provided space for the viewing at no charge.
However, the manner in which Stokes was presented at his viewing shocked family members. He was lying on a sheet-covered table, his head on a pillow, and covered by a pink blanket. The family believes it was disrespectful to a man who served his country in Vietnam.
“It was embarrassing to me and knowing my father, I know that he was embarrassed,” said Mary Ann Taylor, Stokes’ daughter. “They have caskets there. They could have put him in one,” she said.
Malcolm Morris with Elite Funeral Chapel defends the provisions given to the family. He says the family has not yet paid for the embalming or the cremation, which typically is required to be paid in full before the service.
“If she wanted her father in a casket she should have made preparations for him to be in a casket,” Morris said. “I have followed everything I agreed with her on.”
The price of embalming and cremation came to approximately $2,000. Morris says the normal charge for a funeral, without the embalming and cremation is more than $2500.
“I allowed them to have some quiet time with the understanding that he would be dressed and that the viewing would happen on a dressing table and not in a casket,” Morris said.
He said he covered the table in plastic for sanitary reasons and because he was mindful of the lack of resources the family had for a service.
Morris says he is beginning to feel taken advantage of.
“If you look at the total on the bill and what she agreed to pay me, how am I the evil person?” Morris said.
