North Carolina: Funeral home’s mistake sees bodies of Vivian Fairley and Steller Williams swapped
Two families have been left traumatised after a funeral parlour’s dreadful mistake.
A traumatic mix up at a US funeral home has seen the wrong body buried, to the shock of two families.
Vivian Fairley, 54, died on May 30, while 78-year-old Steller Williams died on May 31.
Like their deaths, both funerals were scheduled one day apart at the same funeral parlour, S&L Funeral Home in North Carolina.
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Somehow, the bodies were swapped prior to the funerals and incorrectly labelled.
Ms Fairley’s cousin, Daphne Ballard, said her family had a full funeral, despite it being the wrong body, as reported by local news organisation WECT.
“We were looking at her and we’re telling him, ‘this is not her’ and he’s telling us like we don’t know our own family member,” she said.
“They gave us the wrong body and the wrong person was buried.”
The family said they were contacted hours later by Ms Williams’ family, who said Ms Fairley was in the casket at Ms Williams’ funeral.
Ms Fairley’s niece, Joyce Walden, said the mix up should never have happened.
“That shouldn’t have been a mistake because bodies have tags. There shouldn’t be no way in the world those bodies got mixed up like that,” she said.
The family claims Ms Fairley’s casket, which contained Ms Williams’ remains, was quickly dug up and the bodies were swapped.
“We paid for a funeral for her celebration, and she didn’t even get to have a funeral at all,” said Ms Ballard.
“(They) bring her back to the funeral home just for us to see her for probably 10 minutes.”
Ms Walden added that they were dissatisfied with the service provided after the mistake.
“The way they did her after they fixed the mistake, wig on backwards, lipstick hanging from one side to the other side,” she said.
The family said that blame was put on the hospital by the funeral home, despite Ms Fairley and Ms Williams dying in hospice care and at home, respectively, and not requiring hospitalisation.
S&L Funeral Home told WECT that the error has since been corrected, with a spokesperson telling the outlet that it was an honest mistake and that Ms Fairley was not incorrectly buried.
Family members say they are yet to receive an apology for the traumatic mix-up.
