Thursday afternoon I received a call that the death certificate for Rocky had finally arrived at the Sullivan County Health Dept. It had been two weeks since the Tetrick Funeral Home in Johnson City had called and apologized for filing the paperwork instead of taking action on it and the secretary had just discovered it in the cabinet.
I was told that the paperwork would still have to go to the Medical Examiner (who was coincidentally the doctor at the Hospice House) and then to the County Coroner's office before I could pick it up. So considering it has been six weeks since Rocky's death, I decided to drive down to Blountville where the Vital Records Dept. is located and pick up the certificate immediately.
I have discovered that I can't cancel or change certain services if they are in Rocky's name or both our names without supplying a death certificate. I can't have his name removed from checks or bank accounts or cancel credit cards in his name. I reported that he had died to Social Security so they would stop depositing his social security checks, but was then told I have other papers to sign to get other benefits and when I return them, I must submit a death certificate. I'm sure the IRS is going to want one, too.
In normal circumstances, the funeral home takes care of these details. But since Rocky donated his body to medical science, the only thing the funeral home does is whatever is necessary to preserve and transfer the body so it meets the requirements of the university. There are no services to the family.
This means I get to make these phone calls and run these errands. The only problem I had at Vital Records was having to wait in line and having to explain why a funeral home had not already done this and experiencing the scowl on the clerk's face.
I was in for another surprise today when I received a letter from the University which said it would be one to three years before Rocky's ashes would be returned to me. I've known of two other situations with two other universities and in one case, returning the ashes took two years and in the other case it took only two weeks! The possibility of waiting for three years just seems too long, but there isn't anything I can do about it.
I write of this primarily to let my followers know the consequences of this choice should one of their loved ones make it in the future. Please don't misunderstand. I'm not sorry Rocky made this choice, but it is a learning process for me that surprises me at times.
