Posted on 06/21/2013 7:33:40 AM PDT by JoeProBono
APPLE VALLEY Calif- Unable to pay for a funeral, an Apple Valley woman reportedly told sheriff's deputies she was forced to bury her husband in a shallow grave in the couple's backyard weeks after the man died, according to San Bernardino County Sheriff's officials. Investigators are trying to determine if the man died of natural causes.
The identity of the deceased man has not been released. The woman has also not been identified but neighbors and San Bernardino County property records show they are Thomas and Yvonne Winn.
"She's a really nice lady," said Colin Wilson who lives behind the Winns. "She would always wave to me every morning."
Apple Valley deputies were called out to a home in the 16000 block of Navajo Road around 1 p.m. Wednesday for a welfare check on a 63-year-old man, according to authorities.
At the home, deputies found the man's 59-year-old wife who told deputies her husband, who has not been identified, had died weeks earlier, according to sheriff's officials. Unable to pay for a funeral, she reportedly told officials she buried him in the backyard.
"I saw her kneel down near where the cops started digging and she just broke down," Wilson said. "She was obviously devastated."
The man's body was found in a shallow grave and his body did not appear to have any obvious signs of trauma, sheriff's officials said.
The woman was not arrested pending a cause of death ruling from the coroner, according to Cindy Bachman, spokeswoman for the sheriff's department.
Neighbors said the 63-year-old man had been ill for some time.
Touched by the woman's situation, Wilson and his sister, Emily Wilson, decided to set up an online fundraising account through Fundrazr.com where people can donate to help bury the woman's husband.
"I just feel terrible for her," he said. "I can't imagine what she went through."
In the first hour, the online fundraising effort had already raised $120.
Phyllis Jerscheid, owner of Jerschied's Men's Apparel in Victorville, said she would donate a suit to the Winns so he could be buried.
"This story just broke my heart,"Jerscheid said from her busy store on Hesperia Road. "I wanted to help in some small way."
The couple had recently purchased the home in November but moved in early this year, said Wilson, after some repairs had been made to the property.
"She was out there almost every day painting and fixing up that house all by herself," Wilson said. "She's a really strong lady."
A day after their neighborhood was overtaken by sheriff's investigators, news vans now lined Navajo Road.
"It's really weird to think that she was able to do this and no one saw anything," said Wilson as he stood in his back yard which faced the rear of the couple's home. "We all have chain link fences here and we can see right into each others back yards. I can't believe no one saw anything."
It's a violation of the state's health and safety code to bury a human body anywhere other than an approved and recognized cemetery.
To donate, visit, www.fundrazr.com and search Thomas Winn.
That’s not what Jesus teaches about the value of our bodies, and the duty for reverence towards the dead and human remains.
Again, cremation is what the pagans did to their dead. Christians have always buried or preserved them in some way or shape or form, *because* we believe in bodily resurrection.
“We won’t be having the same bodies..not even close...Christ was dead 3 days”
Yes, we will be having the same bodies. Remember the nail marks in Christ’s palm?
“were many unbiblical things they did totally out of a pagan mindset which they brought into the church body at that time”
You have it exactly backwards. Cremation is what the pagans did with the dead. The Christians put their dead in the catacombs.
what scripture is he quoting there?
Jesus has let us all know that nothing this side of heaven is going to get in the way of His taking us to be with Him.
Our body is valuable only until we are done with it..then frankly it rots....He wants us to value “life” and what we do with our bodies while we are in it.
After death...You can dress it, burn it, put it in a coffin, dump it in the sea, cremate it or whatever....it’s still a dead body...useless. It has served it’s earthly purpose.
So where’s the scripture that says all this? I respect Billy Graham, but he’s not an apostle.
His nail scarred hands and side were to prove to His Disciples he was the same man...to establish the fact He was the Jesus they had followed. Those scars testified to His identity....they all were convinced and confessed that he was the Lord...and even faithless Thomas.
Further when Christ comes for Judgement.... “They shall look on him whom they have ‘pierced’”
We can not say our bodies scars even hint of meaning as that... Our bodies die in ‘dishonor’,.. but will be raised in glory...our bodies die in ‘weakness’...but will be raised in power.
Uh?...... Billy didn’t write that I did.
....additionally there are no apostles today.
He wasn’t quoting scripture...he commented...making a point.
Sheesh do you not have common reason to use which God gave us? God isn’t prevented from raising us up by anything of this world...He’s God...nothing stands in the way of His will and purpose.
We know this because of the body Christ was resurrected in. You can’t have it both ways. Scripture clearly argues for unity not just in the spirit but in the body between our bodies in heaven and our bodies today.
This is part of why Paul argues for Temples of the Holy Spirit.
Basic cremation is still going to cost @ $1K which she might not have if he’d been sick for a long time, unable to work and living on welfare.
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