A Columbus family says a local funeral home canceled their father's funeral the day before it was scheduled to take place after a dispute over an insurance check.
The cancelation of a Vietnam veteran's funeral came two days before Veterans Day.
"This family has suffered a lot of tragedy ... There's no reason why my father should be laying over there ... in ... [the] basement for four weeks," said Monica Grady who is coordinating her father's funeral.
The Grady family waited nearly a month for an insurance check to help pay for the funeral, scheduled for Thursday, Nov 10.
The funeral home, Diehl-Whittaker Funeral Services, canceled the service Wednesday because the family was unable to make full payment pursuant to its contract.
The Gradys showed the funeral home a letter from the Department of Veterans Affairs, which stated an insurance check for $10,000 was on its way -- more than enough to cover the $6,000 funeral expenses.
In this case, the policy did not allow the insurance check to be assigned to the funeral home.
Richard Diehl, owner of the funeral home, is a Vietnam veteran.
He said company policy as well as the Gradys' contract states payment must be made in full the day before the funeral.
"About 15 years ago, we used to allow families to come in after the fact and pay the bill, and in more than 75 percent of those cases, the bills went unpaid. We almost went out of business and had to change our practices," Diehl said.
A funeral can proceed upon full payment once the insurance check comes in. The Gradys expect the insurance check to come in any day.
However, Monica pointed out that family who came from out of town will not be able to return for the funeral at a future date.
She feels postponing a funeral on right before Veterans Day sends the wrong message to servicemen and women everywhere.
"Is this going to make them feel secure on the battlefield when they go out there to risk their life -- that their country and their people back at home that they're doing it for is gonna take care of whatever is left of them when they get back," Monica asked.
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