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Daughter says Ted Williams' body is being frozen
Atlanta Journal-Constitution ^ | 7/6/02 | New York Times News Service

Posted on 07/06/2002 10:46:48 AM PDT by PJeffQ

Daughter says Williams' body is being frozen
New York Times News Service

Ted Williams' estranged daughter says the baseball great's son plans to freeze the hitter's body in hopes of reviving him in the future -- a decision that she said goes against Williams' wishes to be cremated.

Bobby-Jo Williams Ferrell, Ted Williams's oldest child, said that Williams' son, John Henry Williams, had approached her last year about possibly freezing the ailing slugger's body at the Arizona-based Alcor Life Extension Foundation, which has frozen 49 bodies. Ferrell's husband, Mark, said John Henry said that Alcor would freeze Williams's head for around $50,000.

John Henry Williams "told me we could sell Daddy's DNA," said Bobby-Jo Williams Ferrell, who is John Henry's half sister. At the time, Ferrell said she rejected the scheme.

Ferrell said she learned from a friend in the hospital where Williams died Friday morning that John Henry Williams had gone ahead with the freezing plan anyway.

"She told me my father died, and they were freezing him and pumping him full of blood thinners. I knew right away what it was," said Ferrell. "He's just trying to make money off Daddy."

John Henry Williams could not be reached for comment Friday night, nor could Ted Williams' lawyer to confirm he wanted to be cremated. Married three times, Williams has one other child, a daughter, Claudia. Ferrell and John Henry Williams are at odds -- with John Henry Williams controlling most of their father's finances.

Freezing a body in hopes of bringing someone back to life is known as cryogenics. Bodies are rapidly cooled, usually in liquid nitrogen, to preserve DNA and tissue cells. The hope is that future medical advances could allow the bodies to be revived and cured. However, no one has been able to freeze a body and bring it back to life.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Front Page News; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; US: Arizona; US: Florida; US: Massachusetts
KEYWORDS: baseball; cryogenics; dna; frozen; redsox; tedwilliams
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To: PJeffQ
A Tedsicle!
21 posted on 07/06/2002 11:34:31 AM PDT by RedBloodedAmerican
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To: PJeffQ
I really didn't have any idea on what the going price of a Ted Williams autograph was worth before his death. I am a Red Sox fan. And when I saw that picture of the 3 famous sluggers together, I thought it would be cool to have. I set a bid persona bid limit of $400.
22 posted on 07/06/2002 11:41:15 AM PDT by demlosers
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To: Momaw Nadon
nope the soul stays in heaven. So he will have to be a lawyer instead of a ballplayer.
23 posted on 07/06/2002 12:58:13 PM PDT by lexington minuteman 1775
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To: BlackRazor
Poor editing job by the newspaper.

That's okay, because the passage, "Bodies are rapidly cooled, usually in liquid nitrogen, to preserve DNA and tissue cells. The hope is that future medical advances could allow the bodies to be revived and cured." appears to be cut and pasted from this organization's website. Do a google search and check it out.

24 posted on 07/06/2002 1:05:06 PM PDT by NittanyLion
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To: Momaw Nadon
The human consciousness resides in the brain.

And the brain resides in the human consciousness.

25 posted on 07/06/2002 2:28:50 PM PDT by Moonman62
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To: cgbg
Rumor is that Ted William's final instructions were that he was to be brought back to life...

The fact is that Ted Williams' final instructions were for cremation.

John Henry Williams is someone who needs to be seriously and laboriously examined by a psychiatrist. He is sick in the head and has been centering his existence on making a buck off of his father's fame.

Remember when Ted was on the mound at Fenway for the All Star game in 2000? Right before Ted threw out the first pitch, his son John Henry reached out and removed his dad's Red Sox cap and replaced it with a white cap with blue printing that said "Hitter.net"...John Henry's website devoted to selling Ted Williams memorabilia.

John Henry is a piece of sh!t.

26 posted on 07/06/2002 3:57:59 PM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts
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To: NittanyLion
In any event, my real point was to draw the distinction between cryogenics and cryonics. They are not interchangeable terms. The former is a well-established, respected and legitimate field of scientific study. The latter is an experimental procedure that has yet to be proven viable. As one who has won awards in the field of cryogenics (*), I did not wish for the two fields of study to become confused.

(*) I won a gold medal (first place) in my 8th grade science fair for a project on cryogenics. :)

27 posted on 07/06/2002 5:27:00 PM PDT by BlackRazor
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To: PJeffQ
Probably by the time they figure out how to revive a dead body and give them new body parts, we all will recieve our new, gloried bodies. Well, at least for those of us planning on a cool eternity.
28 posted on 07/06/2002 7:53:09 PM PDT by Slyfox
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To: Momaw Nadon
The fact that the soul leaves the body is why reviving the dead can't happen in my opinion. And even if you don't believe in a soul, I don't see how you'd revive someone dead. Wouldn't the brain be severely damaged by such a process? After all, 80 percent of our brain is water, and water expands in freezing. Wouldn't this damage brain tissue?
29 posted on 07/06/2002 9:19:45 PM PDT by baseballfanjm
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To: Bloody Sam Roberts
Remember when Ted was on the mound at Fenway for the All Star game in 2000? Right before Ted threw out the first pitch, his son John Henry reached out and removed his dad's Red Sox cap and replaced it with a white cap with blue printing that said "Hitter.net"...John Henry's website devoted to selling Ted Williams memorabilia

I didn't see that. He must have taken the hat off before he came on to the field because I remember Ted coming on to the field in that hitter.com hat. But anyway, the fact is that John Henry is trying to make a quick buck off his father's death.

30 posted on 07/06/2002 9:25:21 PM PDT by baseballfanjm
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To: BlackRazor
Sorry, didn't mean to get off topic there. Your comments are exactly right. Poor editing on the part of NYT (what's new?).
31 posted on 07/07/2002 7:18:20 AM PDT by NittanyLion
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To: Bloody Sam Roberts
John Henry is a piece of sh!t.

Bob Ryan of The Sports Reporters (ESPN) just said the same.

32 posted on 07/07/2002 7:19:28 AM PDT by NittanyLion
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To: Momaw Nadon
The human consciousness resides in the brain. The people who only have their head frozen will have to have some sort of new body grown for them. But the ability to safely unthaw a frozen head and give it a new body still remains in the future.

Your statement is highly speculative. That dosen't mean it is wrong, it just means that at this point we don't know whether it is correct or not. There are some in this area who believe that the body is so fully integrated with consciousness that the Williams experiment would be doomed to failure. If I were going to incur the expense of freezing myself I would freeze the whole body just to increase the odds a bit... :-)
33 posted on 07/07/2002 7:25:49 AM PDT by cgbg
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To: cgbg
I agree with you.

If I were to opt for cryonic suspension, I would have my whole body suspended instead of just my head.

Of course the brain is the most important part of the nervous system, but valuable memory and information may also be stored throughout the entire nervous system.

The assertion that the human consciousness resides not only in the brain, but also throughout the entire body may very well be true.

If it is true that Ted William's head is being frozen by Alcor, then I think the cost is about $50,000. Otherwise, I believe that Alcor charges over $120,000 for a full body suspension.

34 posted on 07/07/2002 9:23:36 AM PDT by Momaw Nadon
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To: baseballfanjm
Wouldn't the brain be severely damaged by such a process? After all, 80 percent of our brain is water, and water expands in freezing. Wouldn't this damage brain tissue?

Yes, the brain and the body are severely damaged by freezing, because the ice crystals that form are spikey and tear through the cells.

Supposedly, sometime in the future, nanorobots will be used to repair this kind of cellular damage.

35 posted on 07/07/2002 9:31:23 AM PDT by Momaw Nadon
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To: Momaw Nadon
If it is true that Ted William's head is being frozen by Alcor, then I think the cost is about $50,000. Otherwise, I believe that Alcor charges over $120,000 for a full body suspension.

Gee whiz, even in death the sons are going on the cheap.

36 posted on 07/07/2002 9:40:19 AM PDT by Hillary's Lovely Legs
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To: Momaw Nadon
I view that as wishful thinking. I think that once the motor has stopped running, there's no starting it back up.
37 posted on 07/07/2002 11:41:51 AM PDT by baseballfanjm
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To: kcpopps
Freeze his head only? If that is the extent of it, then there is no intention to bring him back to life - only to preserve DNA.

No; the intention of freezing the head is to build or grow a new body using the same future science that allows the frozen body to be revived and cured. If the intent was only to sell DNA, Williams' son could have frozen any old bit of flesh.

38 posted on 07/09/2002 7:07:41 AM PDT by steve-b
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To: baseballfanjm
Yes, freezing does damage to tissue. However, the hope is that future medical science will be able to reverse this damage. It might never be possible, but it certainly won't be possible if the body is left to decay normally.
39 posted on 07/09/2002 7:13:23 AM PDT by steve-b
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