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Husband Changes Course, Buries Schiavo Locally

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By DAVID SOMMER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 21, 2005

CLEARWATER — In a reversal of long-stated plans, Terri Schiavo's cremated remains were laid to rest Monday at a local cemetery.

Her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, were relieved their son-in-law did not carry through on his vow to bury their daughter out of state, their attorney said.

However, the Gulfport couple also were hurt to learn what Michael Schiavo had written on her grave marker. "It's a slap in the face to the parents," attorney David Gibbs said. "It's insulting to the family, and it hurts."

A family friend visited the site of Terri Schiavo's interment late Monday and e-mailed a photograph of the marker to the Schindlers, Gibbs said. The Schindlers were too upset to comment, he said.

At Sylvan Abbey Memorial Park in Clearwater, the grave site features a bronze plaque affixed to a granite marker almost flush with the ground. It reads:

SCHIAVO

THERESA MARIE

BELOVED WIFE

BORN DECEMBER 3, 1963

DEPARTED THIS EARTH

FEBRUARY 25, 1990

AT PEACE MARCH 31, 2005

I KEPT MY PROMISE.

A picture of a dove bearing an olive branch in its beak appears above the last line. An urn affixed to the marker held a bouquet of peace lilies and pink roses Monday. A granite bench behind the marker with the chiseled name " SCHIAVO" on it overlooks a tranquil backdrop featuring a pond and a gushing fountain.

Michael Schiavo and the Schindlers have been feuding for more than a decade over Terri Schiavo's condition and her husband's quest to have her feeding tube removed.

Terri Schiavo, 41, died March 31, almost two weeks after the tube was removed after a seven-year legal battle.

State and federal courts had consistently sided with Michael Schiavo, who testified he promised his wife he would never let her linger on life support before her collapse from unexplained heart failure Feb. 25, 1990, at age 26.

The Schindlers said their daughter reacted to them and could have improved with therapy, but an autopsy found she was blind and had no awareness of her surroundings after her heart failure, which deprived her brain of oxygen for an extended period. The autopsy found she died of dehydration, but the underlying cause of her condition remains a mystery.

Last week, Gov. Jeb Bush called for an inquiry over discrepancies in Michael Schiavo's recollection of the hour of his wife's collapse.

Michael Schiavo had announced on several occasions he planned to bury his wife at an unspecified family plot in the Philadelphia area, where he and Terri Schiavo grew up, met and were married.

His decision to have her remains interred at Sylvan Abbey, about two miles from his Clearwater home, was not explained Monday.

Schiavo had obtained court permission to take his wife's remains out of state over the Schindlers' objections.

The couple previously said they wanted their daughter interred in Florida so the family could more easily visit her grave. They had accused their son-in-law of wanting to take her remains out of state to spite them.

Late Monday afternoon, Michael Schiavo announced through his attorney that his wife's remains had been interred at Sylvan Abbey, a rolling upland where most graves are shaded by stately live oaks.

Schiavo's brief statement, issued by attorney George Felos, said, "Mr. Schiavo, certain of his brothers, and a priest were present" for the interment. Felos said he did not know whether it was a Catholic priest or whether there had been a service or funeral Mass.

Felos said his client had given him no explanation for his change of plans regarding where Terri Schiavo would be laid to rest.

"Doing this in Philadelphia was his original intention, and he decided to have it done here," Felos said.

Schiavo was ordered to notify his in-laws of the location of their daughter's remains, but he was not required to tell them in advance, Felos said.

Neither the Schindlers nor Michael Schiavo could be reached late Monday.

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