Ohio man buried astride beloved Harley motorcycle :On the highway to heaven
bicycles reviews | bicycles videos | bicycles online
US man buried astride beloved Harley-Davidson motorcycle A motorcycle loving man's family has fulfilled his dying wish to be buried astride his beloved Harley-Davidson encased in a see through casket. But it wasn't easy. The project required an extra large cemetery plot to accommodate a Plexiglas casket for Billy Standley and his hulking custom painted 1967 Electra Glide cruiser. Five embalmers worked to prepare his body with a metal back brace and straps to ensure he'll never lose his seat. Standley's family said he'd been talking about it for years and liked to take people to the garage to show off the unusual casket his two sons had built for him. He told people he didn't just want to ride off to heaven, he wanted the world to see him do it in the big see through box. "He was a quirky man," daughter Dorothy Brown said. "But when it comes to us kids, he loved us, he raised us well and, of course, we wanted to help him." The Dayton Daily News reported that Standley, of Mechanicsburg, west of Columbus, died of lung cancer Sunday at age 82. He was buried on Friday. Newspaper photos of the prepared casket showed Standley with his eyes closed astride the big bike. He was dressed in black leathers, a white helmet and glasses, his gloved hands grasping the handlebars. Standley told his family his motorcycle helped him retain his sense of adventure after he settled down to raise four children, which was quite a compromise for the man who made his start at 13 as ranch hand and rodeo rider. He started the project himself, buying three extra burial plots next to his wife, Lorna. His sons, Pete and Roy, fashioned the casket out of Plexiglas, reinforcing the bottom with wood and steel rods to handle the extra weight. Enlisting the help of Vernon Funeral Homes, Standley ensured his funeral would be held outside, so all his biker friends could watch his final ride. His family agreed the processional to the cemetery might be considered a little bizarre, even shocking. "He'd done right by us all these years, and at least we could see he goes out the way he wanted to," Pete Standley said.
Comments
-
Nice
-
WEll, I guess you CAN take it with you after all!!!!!
-
I live in Columbus, Ohio, and I remember this being all over the news at the time. What a total waste. Given that the guy is deceased, it would not matter whether or not the family followed his final wishes. The motorcycle should have been auctioned off and the proceeds donated to charity. The money the family wasted on the extravagant pexiglass case would have been better spent on paying down a mortgage, on a college fund, or on charity. Those things would have made a positive impact on other people's lives. If he wanted to be placed on his motorcycle during the wake, that's one thing. But to bury him with a usable motorcycle is so stupid.
-
im going to medical research at a teaching hospital and they can burn whats left. Dead is dead, if i can help doctors learn to treat the living thats cool and its saves thousands on a bloody funeral.
-
end of the day a dead person cant ride nto the sunset ur dead and their isnt no afterlife
-
look up lighted casket on you tube
-
Maybe his kids should have kept that bike for them self... Lol
-
!!!!! cant believe how stupid people can be
-
I know that's what he wanted, but what's the point? He's dead. He can't enjoy that "last ride" into the sunset, because his spirit has left the corpse. A complete waste of a motorcycle.
-
Thats really stupid. Its a waste of a motorcycle and why should they be putting that crap into the ground to poison the soil.
-
he was probably a badass!!!
-
Well, interesting, but seems like a waste of a perfectly good motorcycle.
-
fake
-
now thats something i can dig !
-
i'm sad for Harley
-
I'm living for the day when it won't seem necessary to use digitalized narration, it's hard to follow and completely needless.
-
If they bury me doing what I love,they will have to bury me in a plexigass box sitting at my desk naked with a hard on watching porn
-
Could they not find anybody to do the voice over?
-
Never under estimate the ability of a funeral home..
-
I love motorcycles too, but I do not want to be buried like such. This is extravagance. I want a simple funeral. I want to be buried without a coffin (or if must, a simple and biodegradable coffin), wrapped in an undyed linen cloth, directly into a soil without being embalmed, without fancy casket or vault so that I will fertilize the soil. My motorcycle (should I get one) should be continued to be used.
2m 22sLenght
409Rating