Posted on 06/21/2005 1:13:32 PM PDT by sandbar
TAMPA, Fla. -- The inscription on the grave marker belonging to Terri Schiavo that reads "I kept my promise" is simply a message from her husband to his dead wife and is not meant to anger her family, the woman's brother-in-law said Tuesday.
Brian Schiavo told The Associated Press that he and a handful of other people attended the burial of Terri Schiavo's remains on a rainy Monday afternoon at a Clearwater cemetery. Others present included her husband, Michael Schiavo, her other brother-in-law, Steve Schiavo, and a priest.
But the woman's parents criticized Michael Schiavo for not notifying them about the burial beforehand and by inscribing "I kept my promise" on the bronze marker. Michael Schiavo had said he promised his wife he would not keep her alive artificially -- a critical element of the acrimonious legal battle over her end-of-life wishes.
"That was something he was feeling," Brian Schiavo said Tuesday. "It would have been very easy for him to walk away from this thing. But they had as promise to each other and he stuck by it."
Michael Schiavo, who received possession of his wife's remains after her death March 31, had said her ashes would be buried at a family plot in Pennsylvania. But she was instead buried at Sylvan Abbey Memorial Park in Clearwater, near Michael Schiavo's home.
Terri Schiavo, Michael Schiavo
"I guess maybe he wanted to be closer to her," Brian Schiavo said. "It's just his decision to do so."
On the grave marker, Michael Schiavo also listed Feb. 25, 1990, as the date his wife "Departed this Earth." On that date, Terri Schiavo collapsed and fell into what most doctors said was an irreversible vegetative state.
Schiavo actually died March 31, nearly two weeks after her feeding tube was removed by court order. The grave marker lists that date as when Schiavo was "at peace."
Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, had opposed her cremation. Services for Schiavo already had been conducted in nearby Gulfport, where her parents live, and in Pennsylvania, where she grew up.
David Gibbs, the Schindlers' attorney, said the family was notified by fax only after Monday's service, when the family had already started getting calls from reporters.
Gibbs on Monday decried the inscriptions on the marker. "Obviously, that's a real shot and another unkind act toward a grieving mom and dad," he said.
But Brian Schiavo said the Schindlers "shouldn't consider themselves that important."
"I know the Schindlers look at it as a slap in the face," Brian Schiavo said. "They had nothing to do with it. That was based from Michael to Terri."
Gibbs did not immediately return a call seeking comment Tuesday.
Terri Schiavo collapsed in 1990 after a chemical imbalance caused her heart to stop. She left no written instructions in the event she became disabled, and her husband said she never would have wanted to be kept alive in what court-appointed doctors called a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery.
Her parents, however, doubted she had any such end-of-life wishes. They maintained she would benefit from rehabilitation, despite most doctors saying her condition was irreversible.
The seven-year battle engulfed the courts, Congress, the White House and divided the country.
The interment comes less than a week after an autopsy report was released revealing that Terri Schiavo was almost certainly in a persistent vegetative state and that her body showed no signs of abuse by her husband, which had been alleged by her family. The cause of the 1990 collapse that left her with severe brain damage was not determined.
The report prompted Gov. Jeb Bush to ask the Pinellas County chief prosecutor to investigate what happened the night Terri Schiavo collapsed. The governor cited an alleged gap in time between when her husband found her unconscious and called 911. The husband says there was no delay in making the call.
I was thinking along the same lines. I'm picturing hands wrapped around a throat, sneering "I promise you'll never tell anyone about this..." Or something like that.
Her parents had never forsaken her, but her lousy husband did.
He promised to kill her?
I can believe that.
To do this to any ones parents is sick. He had Terri starved to death like he wanted, he won his war with her parents. A real man would have just let it go at that.
Well, it's over now, and assuming that the Schindlers are not planning to pursue any further court actions against that creep Michael, they are done with him and his whole scummy family. There is nothing more Michael can do to Terri's parents with regard to her.
Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord, and I sincerely hope His vengeance is dealt out to Michael, Judge Greer, and the vampire Felos while the Schindlers are alive to witness it.
>>>My mom didn't take her blood pressure medicine like she should have, but none of us felt the urge to inscribe her headstone with "I Told You So">>>
Thanks for giving me a chuckle through a maddening article. Funny stuff. ;o)
After the things that were said about him? It would take a better man than I to "just let it go at that"!!
(IF she died in Feb 1990, they why did good ole mikey sue her doctor for money to be used to care for her the rest of her life???)
Most intelligent argument I heard so far. The insurance company should sue him to get their money back.
I am glad I never defended Michael and his ilk......
I don't like to think like this, but I sincerely hope this cold-hearted SOB gets hit by a bus. He is a putrid stain on humanity.
>>>Most intelligent argument I heard so far. The insurance company should sue him to get their money back. >>>
I wish they could.
fleeing in search of flame-suit!
My view regarding this whole sad affair differ from most freepers here. I do believe that Terri was essentially brain-dead, and I also find it plausable that a wife would express end-of-life wishes to a husband and not the parents, and mostly I believe end-of-life medical decsions should be made by next of kin (husband) and not the gov't as was attempted. Yes I've seen the (highly edited) video, and Im aware of the many ways in which MS was suspect as to Terri's best interest.
Having said all that this headstone is disgusting, uncooth, vindictive, mean-spirited, etc.
OK going to put on my flame proof suit now
he wanted her gone years before when he would have had the lawsuit money, once it was gone then the vendetta with the parents was born. Awful man.
Bad things were said on both sides. But if you wouldn't let this go if you were him maybe you should look yourself in the mirror or go to church and think about it some more. At some point we must forgive people. Terri's family loved her every bit as much as her husband. This guy has zero class and isn't much of a man.
I agree with that. And, eventually, I think he is more likely to forgive the parents than they are to forgive him. But I don't think he's going to reach that forgiveness point for quite a while.
I disagree, some things are unforgiveable, like my brother extorting money and verbally, mentally, and emotionally abusing my mother..that gets him no forgiveness ever in my book. Michael Shiavo wanted the loot for himself, nothing more.
Hi Saundra, I'd been meaning to ask you ~ is Jeb back in your good graces after his latest pander?
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