Funeral home takes dead Marine's savings

Most funeral home directors are upright citizens who provide outstanding support for families of fallen heroes. The mortuary that handled Casey Sheehan's funeral, for example, provided much support and service to the family - the owner absorbed significant expenses himself, covering costs not paid by the Marine Corps.

There are exceptions to every rule.

Via Greyhawk, here's a situation that needs a bit of persuasive action:

Jason Sepulveda, a Marine, was training at Camp Lejune in North Carolina, preparing to go to Iraq, when in an evening off-base, he was killed in a car accident.

"My son died instantly and the other Marine died approximately two weeks after," said Elis Sepulveda, Jason's mother.

His parents, who spoke with him weekly, knew he had been saving his money for a long weekend when they would all be together.

"We were going on vacation for the Fourth of July to visit him," Sepulveda said. "I know he had been sacrificing because they don't get paid very much."

Jason's body was returned to Colorado for burial. Records show that the funeral was paid, in full, by the Marines. But after closing out her son's accounts, Jason's mother realized that the probate court had sent the proceeds of Jason's savings account to the funeral home, which is run by Jim Bostick.

"I called Mr. Bostick and I said, 'Well, the courts sent you my son's savings account.' He just kind of really blew me off a lot," Sepulveda said.

She said he didn't give her any receipts or bills and just kept the money.

Video here.

Jason Sepulveda knew the meaning of sacrifice. The Sepulveda family lives with that meaning every day. Jim Bostick has yet to get that message. He was elected mayor of the small town of Ft Lupton, Co last year. In a letter to his constituents, he outlined a series of challenges facing the town. The letter ends with an open invitation for citizen input on upcoming issues:

There are many other issues that Fort Lupton faces and will continue to face. I encourage all citizens to please contact their council members or myself and let us know your input.

The issue of an elected official who keeps money that he is not entitled to and refuses to return it to a dead Marine's grieving family - despite court orders mandating that he do so - certainly deserves citizen input. You are cordially invited to provide that input.

E-mail: LuptonCouncil@aol.com

Phone: 303-857-4707 or 303-857-6694

Or, contact the one of the two Bostick Funeral Home locations directly:

Bostick Funeral Home
106 N 10th Ave
Brighton, CO 80601-1810
Phone: (303)659-8465

or

Bostick Funeral Home
806 Denver Ave
Fort Lupton
Colorado 80621
Phone: (303) 857-2290

While Mr. Bostick does not appear to be a member of he Colorado Funeral Director's Association, his name appears on their website. If the board has not heard of his activities yet, they will as soon as they read my e-mail to them:

In reviewing your site, I noticed that while Jim Bostick (who owns two funeral homes in Colorado) is not a COFDA member, he is listed on your site. Perhaps you are not aware that Mr. Bostick has refused to comply with a court judgement requiring him to pay back funds sent to him when a probate court mistakenly remitted the savings account of Jason Sepulveda, a Marine from Colorado who was killed in a car accident while training in North Carolina, to him. The funeral costs for Mr. Sepulveda were paid in full by the USMC, so Mr. Bostick had no claim on the funds and he knows this. However, in a recent TV interview, he refuses to either acknowledge that he owes the Sepulveda family the funds or reveal a plan for repayment.

I hope that your organization will put whatever pressure you are able to exert on Mr. Bostick for his reprehensible action. Further, I hope you will remove his name from your website since its presence implies tacit recognition and approval of his business activities.

Posted by Deb at 05:55 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

Sunday Sempertoon

Gunny Wolf provides a twofer today - the first in a safety series:

and a diagnostic look at ITIABBIANMSASTICFMAAIAOOR Syndrome"

Thanks so much to Gunny for sending these cartoons along. If you like them, take a moment to drop him a note of appreciation at sempertoon@aol.com.

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We're back

After an unplanned weeklong vacation (note to self: never try to upgrade MT software without having a backup plan), we're back, thanks to the great folks at 4DWebhosting. Gary and his crew are the best - cheerful, patient, and know what they're doing and I appreciate them.

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