Life in the Garden

Matters of Life and Death

obituaries

A Balanced Individual

It’s always the quiet ones…..

Amherst, NY

For hundreds of local families, funeral director Michael A. Pellegrino, 45, was the handsome man in the conservative dark suit who expertly guided them through one of life’s most trying moments. But on Thursday, April 5th, Pellegrino entered the Seneca Niagara Casino, walked directly to the blackjack dealer’s table, pulled out a 9 mm handgun and fatally shot himself in the chest.

Pellegrino, left behind no known note before he killed himself, so the true reason for his suicide may never be known. But he left plenty of signs that his seemingly perfect life as a rising star in the local funeral industry was coming unraveled.

Friends say he was heavily in debt from the costly legal battle he and his wife, Constance, fought to build an expensive new funeral home on Maple Road in Amherst. His wife filed for divorce last October, according to court records, a move apparently prompted by her learning of his affair with the blackjack dealer.

And Pellegrino was a heavy gambler at the casino’s blackjack tables, one who lost so much money he was given the casino’s highest perk: free use of one of the largest suites in the casino’s new four-star hotel.

He was one of the big spenders,” said a source familiar with the casino’s policy for high rollers. A big loser. When you get comped to a center suite, you’re not talking about a bit player.

A casino spokesman declined to discuss Pellegrino’s gambling losses, but the source said only those who lose $10,000 to $20,000 at a time at the tables enjoy that kind of perk.

Pellegrino had no way of knowing it, but as he entered the casino, television crews were setting up outside for an unrelated news conference about a casino promotion. It guaranteed almost instant coverage of the shooting.

Married for 21 years and the father of three, he was described by colleagues and friends as “a gentleman,” “always upbeat” and a “well respected businessman”. He was a very balanced individual, who did everything he could to offer the finest in funeral services,” said Patrick C. Reddington, who owns Reddington Funeral Home in South Buffalo. I was completely shocked when I heard of this incident.

Today’s tip for better living: Have a bowl of peanut butter Cap’n Crunch.

You Can’t Make It Up

Greetings!

Sorry to hear of the passing of John Stone, didn’t know the man personally, however, we had just discovered his blog. We didn’t always agree with his viewpoint, but it made for interesting reading. RIP. Chatter has the story.

Beam me up! The ashes of Star Trek’s Scotty and one of NASAs first astronauts are once more bound for the final frontier, this time aboard a privately-built rocket to launch from New Mexico April 27th.

Keith Richards and his dad were very close. Keith admits to adding some of his dad’s ashes to a line of “blow” and snorting. Nice. Update.

In a statement posted on the Rolling Stones Web site, Richards said:

”The complete story is lost in the usual slanting! The truth of the matter is that I planted a sturdy English Oak. I took the lid off the box of ashes and he is now growing oak trees and would love me for it!!! I was trying to say how tight Bert and I were. That tight!!! I wouldn’t take cocaine at this point in my life unless I wished to commit suicide.”
Today’s tip: Eat, drink, and be very merry.

Remembering Triangle Shirtwaist Girls

Today we remember the girls in the Emergency Flight fire. 3/25/1911 RIP.

A total of 146 workers died in less than fifteen minutes. This tragedy is noted as the worst factory fire in the history of New York City. It occurred on March 25th, 1911 in the Asch building located at the northwest corner of Washington and Greene streets, where the Triangle Shirtwaist Company occupied the top three of ten floors. The company employed five hundred, mostly Italian and Jewish immigrants between the ages of thirteen and twenty-three. In an effort to keep the workers at their sewing machines and to keep out union organizers, the proprietors had locked the doors leading to the exits.

Down below on the street, people started to notice the smoke billowing from the 8th floor. One of the bystanders observed a bolt of cloth come flying out the window and hit the pavement. Instinctively, he remarked that Harris, (one of the factory owners) was trying to save his best material. As the people on the street moved closer, out flew another bolt. It was then that the realization hit them that it wasn’t bolts of cloth at all but bodies plummeting to the pavement below.

More from the NYT…

Today’s tip: Check your smoke detectors.

Who’s Your Daddy?

Greetings!

DNA samples collected from Anna Nicole Smith and now the Godfather of Soul.

Tomi Rae Hynie, who claims to be James Brown’s fourth wife, says she stood in front of his open casket and mourned one more time before DNA samples were taken from the late soul singer’s body – more than two months after the Godfather of Soul died, the Associated Press reports. Lawyers for Brown’s trustees wanted DNA samples to help sort out several paternity claims made against the singer since he died Dec. 25 at age 73. His body is being held at an undisclosed location.

“We had a saying that his father, Papa Joe, used to say when he would win playing dice. He would say, `Us win’ to James,” Hynie said Friday. “So, I was praying and I said, `Us win, baby. We are going to put you in the ground and you’re going to get some rest finally, at last.”

Yes, let’s have some peace for the family and let the man rest.

Hynie refused to say when or where Brown would be buried, but said it was something she “had been fighting for all along. I’m very happy we’re coming to a resolution with the family on that,” she said. “He was my life … and I miss him very much.”

A few of Brown’s children and a funeral director also viewed Brown on Thursday before the court-ordered DNA samples were collected. Hynie wouldn’t say whether a paternity test will be needed for her son, who wasn’t included in Brown’s will. Attorneys who handled the will told the AP the child may be entitled to some of the estate, but a paternity test would be needed. Attorneys for the singer have said Brown and Hynie weren’t legally married when he died because she was married to another man when they said their vows.

His children are in charge of his burial, Brown attorney and trustee Buddy Dallas said. “If I had a say in it, it would have already been done,” Dallas said. A telephone message for David Yount, an attorney for Brown’s children, wasn’t immediately returned Friday. Charles Reid, manager of the C.A. Reid Funeral Home in Augusta, Ga., said he was ready to bury his friend. “It needs to be done and that way it will put everything to rest hopefully,” said Reid, who handled Brown’s funeral.

Today’s tip: Put a raincoat on.

Creepy or Cool?

Greetings!

Let’s start with the full moon. If you haven’t stepped out to take a look, do so.

It’s Technology Week in the garden, and while the tomb of St. Paul recently went on display for public viewing, we were reminded of the inventors working to create video tombstones so that YOU can leave YOUR legacy. Patents are pending on a couple of projects, and developers envision you being able to stroll through the cemetery with a remote, or access the dead from your desktop.

The Cassity brothers from Missouri have already started experimenting with this concept at the Hollywood cemetery, Forever Fernwood. Charlie Chaplin, Rudolph Valentino are there, and Dee Dee and Johnny Ramone both chose it as their final resting place. Johnny’s not there yet—his wife is still holding on to his ashes—but his monument, a statue of himself playing the guitar, is a siren call for a certain kind of customer, one who imagines the afterlife as like a really long night at CBGB.

The Cassity boys were the inspiration behind the hit HBO series Six Feet Under. Speaking of HBO, Rome is must see TV in the garden, and we just hope they don’t cancel the series, I’ve read the production costs for this show are astronomical.

Rushed post today, we are getting a break in the weather and must make “hey” while the sun shines.

Today’s tip: Inspire someone.