CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – A woman is still trying to bring her husband, a veteran, home months after his death, but is getting more questions than answers.
“If I was there, why couldn’t I see my husband’s body?” said Catherine Sullivan.
In early April, Sullivan said her husband of twenty years, Harry Sullivan, died in the hospital while she was visiting family and hospitalized.
“His brother calls me to tell me he died,” Sullivan said.
She says the VA and Stewart’s Funeral Home Inc. did not tell her how he died.
When she went to Washington DC for the funeral in May, she was surprised that nothing had been prepared.
“We went to the funeral home on May 3 and they told me there was no service, and I said, ‘Excuse me?’ No one told us there would be no service,” Sullivan said. “I asked if I could see the body, but they told me that was not possible.”
She says there was little communication and she sent $2,000 for various expenses to get her husband transferred to the Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery, where other family members rest.
Cemetery officials also say they have communicated with Sullivan but have not heard about the DC issue; the current recording of such cross-state transfers does not take that long.
“I just want him to rest in peace,” Sullivan said
When calling the funeral home’s number, only a busy tone was heard and messages were not answered immediately.
19 News will continue to monitor the issue and work on a solution.
All rights reserved.
