Who is that in Grandma’s dress?

What if you were at your grandmother’s funeral and noticed she had all ten fingers, instead of the nine that she really had?  Would you think that the morticians went the “extra mile” in restoration or would you look closer and see that grandma wasn’t really grandma after all?

Well, this is what happened in Chicago earlier this month (July 2008).  During the wake of Lillian Grogan, Amy Wasiel, Lillian’s granddaughter, noticed the extra digit.  She soon came to the realization that the woman wearing Lillian’s peach shirt and bracelet was merely a person her looked somewhat similar to Lillian.

Investigation revealed that Lillian’s body was turned over to another family by accident and had already been buried.  Lillian’s family then obtained a court order to exhume her body and have her reburied next to her husband and son.

See Gerry Smith, After mix-up, body laid to rest properly, Chicago Tribune, July 17, 2008.

Special thanks to David S. Luber (Attorney at law, Florida Probate Attorney Wills and Estates Law Firm) for bringing this situation to my attention.