Tampa, Fla. – Terri Schiavo’s husband buried her cremated remains Monday, inscribing on her bronze grave marker “I kept my promise.” The inscription inflamed Schiavo’s parents, who had waged a long legal battle to keep their severely brain-damaged daughter alive.
They also complained that they had not been notified about the service beforehand.
Michael Schiavo – who said he promised his wife he would not keep her alive artificially – also listed on the bronze grave marker Feb. 25, 1990, as the date his wife “Departed this Earth.” On that date, Schiavo collapsed and fell into what most doctors said was an irreversible vegetative state.
Schiavo actually died March 31, nearly two weeks after her feeding tube was removed by court order. The grave marker lists that date as when Schiavo was “at peace.” David Gibbs, an attorney for the woman’s parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, decried the inscriptions on the marker.
“Obviously, that’s a real shot and another unkind act toward a grieving mom and dad,” Gibbs said.
Two days after Terri Schiavo’s death, the 41-year-old was cremated and her husband was given possession of her remains.
Michael Schiavo had said her ashes would be buried at a family plot in Pennsylvania. But on Monday his attorney, George Felos, said in a statement that the service and burial had taken place at Sylvan Abbey Memorial Park in Clearwater.
Schiavo’s parents had opposed her cremation and hoped to bury her in their adopted state of Florida. Services for Schiavo already had been conducted in nearby Gulfport, where her parents live, and in Pennsylvania, where she grew up.
