Have You Ever Heard a Corpse Snore?
A lot of my experience at Rosebud involved death and dying. At first I was scared to death to think I might have to conduct a funeral. I ended up doing quite a lot of them. I discovered that many people from Rosebud had migrated to the Metroplex (Fort Worth-Dallas) to find work, but when they got older it was their desire to be buried with their people back home. I conducted quite a few funerals for people I never knew.
My most memorable experience bereavement experience involved a family I did know. A Rosebud man died. His body was taken to the funeral home where he lay in state until the time of the funeral. In those days it was common for church members and friends to “sit up with the body” until the funeral service actually took place.
One of the deacons and I took our turn in the wee hours of the night. We sat there visiting about everything from ball games, to the prospects of rain, to the condition of the crops. The deacon was a farmer. After the talk sort of died down, we got a little glassy eyed, and all of a sudden I thought I heard snoring coming from the casket. It didn’t take me long to shake myself awake. I thought “Surely, I didn’t hear what I thought I heard. Dead men don’t snore.” The deacon heard it too. He looked at me with the weirdest look in his eye. I don’t know if he was planning to make quick exit from the premises or not.
In a little while, a door opened in a room behind the casket, and a man came walking through it. It was the funeral director. He had been asleep in the room behind the casket. We breathed a sigh of relief. He walked over to us and visited for awhile. As I’ve thought back over this episode, I don’t remember the deacon and I saying one word to each other from the time we first heard the snoring until the funeral director showed up.
I don’t ever remember us discussing that event anytime thereafter, but I’m sure he never forgot it. I know I sure didn’t.
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