Queens great-grandmother was cremated against her final wishes, family says
The family of a 93-year-old woman who died in July is pressing a Jamaica, Queens funeral home for answers and accountability after they allege that their loved one was cremated against her final wishes.
The family of Euvy Rodney, a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, said that she died on July 8 and was taken to the J. Foster Phillips Funeral Home in Jamaica, Queens.
A death certificate provided by the family showed that Rodney wished to be buried in her home country of Guyana, next to her own grandmother, the family says.
Instead, the family, their attorneys and civil rights leaders allege that Rodney was cremated, and the family had to "jump through hoops" to reclaim her ashes.
"We have lost our mom twice. We have lost her in death, we have lost her body, we have no closure for our mother," said Christine Weaver, one of Rodney's 11 children. "For all she has done on earth, that's how you treat her?"
On Monday, Civil Rights Leader Rev. Kevin McCall held a press conference outside the funeral home calling for an investigation into the facility to figure out why Rodney was allegedly cremated against the family's wishes.
"No funeral home should be called a funeral home if they don't have dignity and they don't have respect for a family - they robbed this family of that," McCall said. "We are calling on this funeral home to be shut down immediately. The state needs to investigate."
John Eleftrakis and Wayne Wattley EEP Law Firm said it is beginning an investigation into what happened on behalf of the family and could consider a lawsuit.
At the funeral home, a man answered the door but would not provide comment.
Rodney's family plans to hold what they call a symbolic funeral Friday in Queens.
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