June 26, 2025 • 33 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
It's that time time time, time, Luck and Load. The
Michael Verie Show is on the air. We're talking about
(00:43):
coffee shops and coffee generally. When we started looking for
a partner who would roast coffee, and we wanted a
Houston based coffee roaster provider, and we started going out
(01:04):
and there are there are several in Houston. There are
several really good coffees in Houston, but we landed on Cats. Now,
in fairness, they had a little bit of an advantage
because for years Magic at the Delhi downstairs served Cat's coffee,
(01:26):
and I had seen Kat's coffee around town k A.
T Z for years, and I thought Kats was a
national brand. I didn't know it was Avi Katz in
Houston over on Carbox Lane or whatever it is, where
the where the where the beer distilleries are is, where
his his roasting facility is. I didn't know that. But
(01:48):
when they submitted and we tasted, we all liked that.
I think probably partly because that's the coffee we've been
drinking for years and we've grown to really really enjoy it.
So when we narrowed it down to five and then
I think three, and we looked at all. Right, we
want a coffee that we like because we're going to
(02:11):
be committed to drinking as part of it. We want
you to be Houston based, We want you to be
supporters of Camp Hope. And you tell us what you're
going to do. Well, they just blew it out of
the water on that, on everything they've done and continue
to do. In fact, the only time I ever argue
with Avi Katz is him wanting me to be at
something he's doing for Camp Hope that I can't be
(02:33):
at because I'm traveling or whatever else. But he's got
a heart for Camp Hope and I love that. But
we were talking about coffee when you were growing up.
First of all, we as a kid, my parents were
big coffee drinkers and they weren't alcohol drinkers. So in
the late afternoon coffee was a treat for my parents.
(02:56):
They switch over to decaf, but we didn't eat out
because you know, I think about how my parents did
so much on so little. Well, part of that is
they didn't do some of the things we take for granted. Now,
if if you drove so if you ask your parents
to take you somewhere, they would refer to burning gas,
(03:16):
and I got to burn my gas to take you
over there. When you're doing something for them, why can't
they you know that sort of thing. Well, we just
we don't even think about that. We were going to
go somewhere with his drive. Well, that adds up. We
didn't eat out as a kid almost ever. We didn't
eat out. When we did, it was a treat, even
if it was burger king, it was a treat to
be eating out. We eat out all the time. Now
(03:37):
that's just a guilty indulgence. But we would have never
stopped at a convenience store for something we could have
at home for a whole lot cheaper. We would have
coffee at home, and we didn't. You didn't. You didn't
do it outside. But I've always loved you know. You
see this in the old movies, kind of no country
for old men kind of thing. And you see this
(04:00):
in lots of movies, and you've seen it in culture
where you walk in and there's a couple o in
the in the small town and there's a couple of
old guys sitting over at the table and maybe they're
playing cards or dominoes, are reading the paper or talking
about the high school football team, and that is just
a simpler time. And they're drinking their coffee. And this
(04:21):
is pre Starbucks. You remember those old It's not really
a coffee shop, it's it'd be it would be more
like the little might be the farmer's murcantill. You know
what I'm talking about. Ram Hey there, Bill, Hey, you doing?
Hey what those corn crops looking pretty good?
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Well, you know we take a dab by day.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Hey, you got a warm cup of coffee? Back then,
Bill say that Mustad's going to get it done this
year lost our quarterback, and that running.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Back time.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
To the basics of the Since we're on the subject
to simpler times and quirks of country folks. When the
pope passed, let's see, that was back in April, I
(05:17):
guessed at eighty eight. He had burial requests that became public,
and they were pretty simple. He wanted to be laid
to rest at the papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major
in Rome, where six other popes are buried. He wanted
a simple, undecorated tomb with only the inscription Franciscos according
(05:43):
to the Vatican, and that got a lot of attention
for this sort of humility. That was the statement I
think he was trying to send. He didn't want adornment,
he didn't want pomping circumstance. And we were talking and
had been talking since then about interesting burial requests, and
(06:07):
I brought up to the group that I don't know
what happens, kind of like homeschooling. I don't know what happened.
When I was growing up, nobody was cremated. If somebody
was cremated, they were weird, right, There was something about it,
kind of like homeschool. Somebody was homeschool. They were weird.
(06:27):
Now every other family, it feels like, is home especially conservatives.
And then all of a sudden, people, I'm just surprised
how many people of friends of mine and their families
are cremated today. And that just became sort of a thing.
And I don't know how that happened. I don't know
when that happened. I don't know how that happened. I
(06:49):
don't have a judgment of it one way or another.
It just became the case that a lot of people
in our circles are now cremated. And I never I
was part of the conversation how that became the case
when when that occurred. But we were talking in our family,
in our group about odd funeral and burial requests. You know,
(07:14):
Pooki liked to play dominoes in the front yard with
his homies, so he wanted to be seated in a
game of dominoes at his funeral. I don't know, I've
noticed that one of the things in southern Black funerals
that they're doing now is propping the body up at
the at the funeral. And look, I don't care. You
grieve the way you want to grieve. It's not a judgment,
(07:36):
but it is worth noting. Right, Uncle Bobby had a
hit record in the sixties, so he wonted that song
played while he was being lowered in the ground. More
power to you. I mean, it's the grieving process, and
it's whatever helps the person grieve by giving a last
(07:58):
you know, granting the last wish of that person. But
everybody had and I won't share what some of them
were because Ramon had some weird ones in his family.
But if somebody you know had an odd funeral or
burial request, or you do, we'd like to hear it.
Seven one, three, nine, nine, nine, one thousand weirder the
better seven one three, nine, nine, nine, one thousand. You
(08:23):
are listening to Michael Berry shaw.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
Wall.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
You wish you to let your well never alright. Weird
funeral requests ventriloquist and puppet. My son in law's uncle died.
His uncle's best friend was a ventriloquist with a puppet. Well,
nobody knew this. The funeral starts, the ventriloquist and the
(08:52):
puppet give the eulogy and a performance very very uncomfortable,
hard to keep from life laughing. Well maybe you were
supposed to laugh. Maybe maybe that was the plan. Use
an old Jewish tradition to have what we would today
(09:13):
call a roast where, uh you would you would basically
poke fun at the recently deceased, and uh that was
that was part of it's part of the part of
the grieving process I have noticed of late. Maybe this
(09:34):
is a long standing tradition. But in my family, we
were deep grievers. We were, you know, whalers, very very
sad at funerals. You know, you try to keep a
stiff upper lip, but you know, poor Southern people that
(09:56):
lots of lots of you know, very deep sadness in death,
and that was your way of showing how much you
cared for this person. I have noticed of late. Maybe
this is a big city thing, Maybe this is a
rich people thing. Maybe this's a modern thing. I don't know.
(10:17):
I have noticed more celebrations of life and fewer handwringing,
teeth gnashing, lamentations and wailing. And I must say I
prefer that. I do. I prefer a happier occasion to
remember what we've lost. Terry, what is your weird burial
(10:38):
request that you saw or have.
Speaker 5 (10:42):
It's my best friend's mom and she's still with us,
but my friend called the other day and she goes,
you're not going to believe what her mom did. She's
planning her funeral and she wants us all to see
Christmas music at the funeral. And I just love that,
and her kids will it too. It's unusual, but I
can see where that would make everyone there happy, and
(11:04):
I think that's what she wants.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
I think it's fantastic. Is she is she near death
or is this just something that she's planning like her Oh.
Speaker 5 (11:12):
No, she just yeah, it's her estate planning. She's a
very healthy woman in her eighties, and you know, she
just loves Christmas music, So that's what she wants.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
I think that's fantastic. I love it. I do you
know it's a and the fact that you're fulfilling her wish,
the fact that she has prepared this moment and doesn't
want you sad, but wants you to enjoy something that
she also enjoys. I will tell you, I think that
(11:45):
singing as a group is a very cathartic, happy, shared
fellowship and joy. I really enjoy it. That's why I
love to do listener events and get on stage. I
have to have a couple of pops before I do it,
but get on stage and everybody sing together. I think
that's so much fun. I grew up in the church
(12:07):
choir and everybody in church saying, you pulled out your
Baptist hymnal and everybody sang together. Christmas Caroline, we did that.
You go to the houses and knock on the door,
and everybody be so excited, and you know they'd sing
along with you. I have always enjoyed. I think one
of the most powerful commercials of all time is the
Coca Cola commercial. I'd like to teach the world to sing,
(12:29):
and then they brought that commercial back. But you can't
watch that commercial without being in a good mood, without
it improving your mood. Everybody there singing together, happy together.
I love that and I think there's definitely something to
be said for that. Let's go to Becky because that
was Tommy's girlfriend in Coward of the County and those
(12:52):
Gatland boys. Well, you know, thank you, Welcome to the progost.
What is your weird burial request you'd like to share?
Speaker 6 (13:02):
Well, it's not mine. It's my dad had a relative
long time ago that died in a car racket and
probably in the fifties or sixties, and her request was
to be buried in her neglige in her ferrari, and
they did that. If you google it you can see
(13:23):
the information about it. And I believe it was in California.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
And they buried the car, yes, and her and her neighborhood.
Speaker 7 (13:38):
Right.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Oh my, okay, Now.
Speaker 6 (13:41):
Did you go to this every once in a while, No,
I was a kid.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Sandra Hileen West of Beverly Hills socialite was buried in
her sixty field ferrari in Alamo Masonic Cemetery in San Anton,
Texas in nineteen seventy seven. She was laid the rest
of the car, wearing a lace nightgown. As per her
unusual request and her will, the car, a sixty four
Ferrari three thirty America, was placed in a concrete box
(14:10):
within the grave to deter grave robbers. According to report,
I didn't even think about that.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Huh.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
How about that she was buried in a white.
Speaker 6 (14:18):
Yeah, yeah, I forgot it was in San Antonio. I've
been to that gravesite and uh. Anyway, so that's my
strange and that.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Is that is your pharaoh first cousin.
Speaker 6 (14:36):
I believe it was a cousin. Yes, uh, huh, he
was seventy seven, he was.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
Probably in his thirties.
Speaker 6 (14:47):
Maybe forties. Uh, and I was, I was, I'm twenty four.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
This story he had, this story was covered at the time,
and it has been covered many many times since then.
Here's an article out of San Antoni from twenty twenty
one about it. Here's another one from twenty twenty three.
This thing, this continues what we fifty years later, it
(15:15):
continues to get attention. How about that? Well, that that's
a way a wager, you know, when we asked for
your strange burial request doesn't have to be yours somebody's
strange burial requests. I did not expect to get the
socialite married in a negligee in a ferrari, But here
(15:38):
we are. I'm glad we did all right, your costs
coming up? Allow me to introduce Spice. My name is.
Speaker 8 (15:43):
Mitch michael Berry, genius.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
My friend Chance, my superstar quarterback Woodlands, who then quarterbacked
at University of Texas, says, my dad's from Norway, so
we've always loved Viking culture. I've long said I wanted
a Viking burial. Don't know if I could pull it off,
but I'm a little concerned at how excited my son
(16:10):
is to be one of the archers. I don't know.
I don't know the process there, do you Reramo? No,
I don't know how the archers are involved, But this
little concern how excited his son is about it. Stanley
Wright's my mom asked everyone to wear Astros gear. She
was dressed in a pink Astros jersey. She had toilet
(16:30):
paper and peppermints in her casket because she constantly feared
she'd run out. She wanted a birthday cake and we
all sang Happy Birthday. She was a character Oh my,
they're coming in fast and furious. Let's go to the
calls first, shall we. Let's go down the line, Kurt. Kurt,
you're on the Michael Berry Show. What was the strange
(16:52):
burial request you witnessed?
Speaker 8 (16:56):
Hey, Michael, I'm it's a personal reques west myself. I
grew up in Southeast Texas, just like you, and I'm
an avid outdoorsman. And I've told my family that whenever
I die, go ahead and cremate me. And stuffed my
ashes in a shotgun shell, and when the family's out
there making one last hunt in the marshes of Southeast Texas,
(17:18):
will just blow my ashes over a duck pond at
the next flock that passes by.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
That's what hunter s Thompson had done. And he had
Johnny Depp fire of the cannon with his with his ashes.
So I'm obviously not an uncommon hunter. S Thompson loved guns,
and so they had a ceremony at al Farm, which
(17:45):
is in Woody Creek where he lived in Colorado, and
he wanted Johnny Depp to fire the canon of his
He took his own life. I he was only sixty
seven years old. He took his own life after threat
need to do so for quite some time, and he
had written out everything that he wanted done, and they did.
(18:06):
They had a rather debauched ceremony involving all sorts of
drugs and pyrotechnics and guns firing off, and then there
was the shooting of the of the cremated remains. Per
his wishes, apparently down to the tee ron, what is yours, sir?
Speaker 9 (18:30):
Well, this is the way I would like to go, sir,
I would like to go. I would like to be
in my bedroom with my loving wife, and I would
like to pass away on the upstroke. That way I
get two more when I'm gone.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
There you go. Chance Marck has answered the question as
to Viking burials. Viking burials are at sea. They put
them on a raft in a of hay. They push
it out into the water and flaming arrows are shot
to set it ablaze and you drift off to sea. Okay,
now we don't Mike, what is your strange burial request
(19:14):
that you have or have heard of?
Speaker 10 (19:18):
I don't know that there's it has been brought up,
but there's about eight or ten cadaver labs in the
Houston Medical Center and I want to be used for research.
And then they when they get through the body, they
cremate it and ask your relatives if they want the ashes.
Speaker 7 (19:39):
And I've told my kids.
Speaker 10 (19:41):
I don't care what they do with them, so but
you know, we but having a contributed to medical research
would be my request.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
I think that's very noble. Good sir, I think that's
very noble. Indeed, I know a lot of people have
withdrawn the organ donor designation. I've heard this to be
the case because of some cases where people felt that
(20:14):
they didn't get the end of life treatment because someone
wanted this or that. I don't know if that's true
or not. I don't know if that's a if that's
an urban legend or not. But I do know that
people have told me that they have withdrawn their organ donor.
Were you an organ donor? Ramon me too? But it
(20:34):
would be kind of awful if you laying there about
half dead and they go, oh, but he's mine. Wouldn't
be my liver or my lungs. I'm not sure what
I got a good ticker, they might say, but he
got a pretty good heart, you got good teeth? Okay, yeah,
they may they may go ahead and let you slip
slip the surly grasp of this earth to pull those
(20:57):
teeth out. Yeah, that's yeah, it could happen, URTIs, what's yours?
Speaker 7 (21:03):
Well, it wasn't my idea, but I like this person's
idea of after the ceremony or whatever it may be,
everybody would reach up and eat their seat and there
would be a taser and I would then there'll be
announced saying the last person standing gets my Harley.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Oh. I like that. That's kind of a yeah, that's
kind of a hunger game sort of deal out. That's
a that's cool, Famous, you're up, good morning.
Speaker 11 (21:34):
My request was for some mechanically engineered the individual to
actually what I'm laying in the coffin and there's a
momoil service for me to rise up in my head
and by the cup under my body, who would move
towards the individuals that are viewing me. And then when
(21:57):
they close the coffin, which I've heard that it was done,
but my request has been for twenty years or more,
was to actually do that is, when they close the coffin,
say please let me out, levey out please. But I've
been done already.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
I have heard versions of that and people pulling off
that prank of it. It's kind of a twisted sense
of humor that pulls that off. But I've got a
lot of friends that have twisted senses of humor. Laura,
you're on the Michael Berry Show. What is the strange
burial request you'd like to share?
Speaker 12 (22:33):
So?
Speaker 4 (22:34):
My dad had his own music party selected and it
was turnout the Life. The Party's over and he was
a truck driver, so he was carried out to Rubber
Ducky and then we had the radio station play that
as we Convoyd down to Livingston, adding.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Barry and is that a local radio station there in Livingston?
Speaker 4 (22:59):
No, we actually were were He was the funerals in Houston,
so it was one hundred point three.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
In the Bull And they did that for you on Q.
Speaker 4 (23:09):
Yeah, they did. My niece called in and said, hey,
we're carrying Papa down fifty nine and they said absolutely.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
How nice is that? Who was the DJ? Do you remember?
Speaker 4 (23:20):
I know, I don't remember. This was twelve years ago,
so I don't, but it was so kind of them.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
That is really that is really cool that they did that.
We can probably if it was twelve years ago, I
could probably find out. Let me ask you this, what
what time of day was it? Laura?
Speaker 4 (23:41):
It was noon, so I think the funeral was eleven.
By the time we got moving, it was noon, and
I could look up the day and email you and
see exactly what day we married.
Speaker 12 (23:51):
It was. He died September, so it was like the
eighth or let me just find out who the mid
day was at noon on the bull like this, that's
not one of our stations that I can send a gage.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Everything is ready for your car.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
Made rivers to crawl, but I can't seem.
Speaker 6 (24:37):
To find.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
My wheel over wandering naw Lorne's a travel along wag
clips on dover mad rivers the ball and it's only
(25:06):
my will that keeps me alive. I've washed up for you.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
If it's every late at night and you're missing people
you've lost and feeling a little maudeling morose, you can
go to YouTube and you can put in Jimmy Cliff
Many Rivers to Cross, and you will see among the
(25:41):
live versions of him performing that song, you will see
across about a thirty year period, him singing at three
different times at three different ages in his life. One
is the early probably recorded in a Jamaican recording studio
(26:06):
where he was splitting his time between there in London.
The second one on Top of the Pops or something
some English show, probably twenty years later, and then the
third one about ten years later on what must be
not Letterman but a late night show. It's an interesting
(26:31):
it's an interesting time lapse to perform, and I love
that song so much. It's a really interesting thing to do.
All right, let's go to Pat Ramon doesn't tell me
if it's a man or a woman, so I'll just
hold off on that. We're talking about strange burial request.
And the reason was back in April when Pope Francis
(26:54):
gave hit the dictates to the Vatican of how he
wanted to be buried, which was very simple. We talked
as a team and I figured, if it's something that
we care this much about, you probably would too. And
I have not been disappointed. So let's go to Pat. Pat,
you're on the Michael Berry Show. Go ahead.
Speaker 13 (27:13):
To piggyback on the gentleman who called about donating his body,
And I'm in the process of doing that, and so
I looked up donating my body to science at the
Baylor College of Medicine website, and there's a lot of
forms to fill out and there's a lot of caveats.
(27:35):
I guess if depending on if you have all your organs.
Speaker 14 (27:40):
Or you have to fill out all that kind of
that kind of stuff, and if they don't accept the body,
then you have to have alter a backup plan.
Speaker 13 (27:55):
So that anyway, and that's what I'm doing.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
So interesting, very interesting. Are you in good health or
is this something you're preparing for in the near future.
Speaker 13 (28:09):
No, I'm in pretty good health.
Speaker 14 (28:10):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
How old are you.
Speaker 13 (28:14):
Seventy three?
Speaker 1 (28:17):
You have a great voice.
Speaker 6 (28:20):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Are you nervous.
Speaker 14 (28:24):
A little?
Speaker 6 (28:25):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Okay, don't be. Tell me something about you, Pat that
I wouldn't expect, like were you born in Monterey or
were you the guy out in front of the tank
at Teneman.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Or did you know I'm a native Techan Okay, from
a very small town where my dad was a farmer,
farmer outside of Schulenberg. What's the town, Well, it's a
community really, it's called Moravia.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
I know what I know where Arabia is.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Yeah, mm hmmm.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Is your family Moravian?
Speaker 13 (29:08):
Yes, I'm third generation.
Speaker 7 (29:10):
Check so.
Speaker 13 (29:14):
I think I think my grandmother's uh side was from Dravilla, Czechoslovakia,
and then my grandpa's my mom's dad. I forget what
part in Chech, Czechoslovakia. They're from, of course, now Czech Republic.
Speaker 12 (29:31):
But have you been.
Speaker 13 (29:36):
Oh, yes, I've been to Prague.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
I love Prague.
Speaker 13 (29:42):
The Christmas market, Oh my god, yeah, I think.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
I think Prague and uh Vienna are two cities everybody
has to see. They're just absolutely glorious, just wonderful. And
I'll tell you the other one is h It's in
the old Yugoslavia and I've just lost it. Comment not
(30:09):
Sarajevo is beautiful. Oh, Budapest and Bucharest is also a
glorious said the Paris of the East is absolutely beautiful city.
What is the darn city? I cannot It's in Zagreb,
Zagreb's country. Yeah, Zagreb is a beautiful city, absolutely glorious.
(30:32):
What's your maiden named pat?
Speaker 13 (30:36):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (30:36):
Come on, well, I'm just trying to get your Czech
credentials here. You don't have to tell it if you
don't want tapoo? What tap How do you spell that?
Speaker 2 (30:48):
K l A.
Speaker 7 (30:51):
P U c H.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
I've never heard of that's.
Speaker 13 (31:01):
I took a couple of semesters of check and it's
a the professor said, it's a true check name and
it has no translation.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Well, there's a bunch of klop Is it clopuk or
klopooh the ch silent.
Speaker 14 (31:19):
Uh, yes, And my.
Speaker 13 (31:21):
Mother would say it's like.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Klopo.
Speaker 13 (31:25):
She would kind of, I don't know, she put the
check accent on the ch. But we all say clopuu.
But we've been called every name, you, cadital, hopper, everything
when we we were growing up, but we didn't care.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Did you know that you're in the Lagrange Journal for
Excellence in Public Speaking or something in nineteen seventy Is
that you? It's got to be you?
Speaker 13 (31:55):
Oh yeah, yeah, Yes, I was in a Yes, I
was in a competition. Sure was the cost I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Te What's amazing is that somehow, in the middle of
an article, somebody has been able to not just put
that into the mimiograph or whatever they call that, but
that somebody's been able to put that in a search
term portal so that the terms of the because they
(32:24):
it's a screenshot, right, so somehow they had to take
that screenshot, convert it to text, and make that searchable
for me. To find. That is in the Lagrange Journal,
Volume ninety one, number forty two, edition one, Monday, May
twenty fifth, nineteen seventy and there she is. Wow, that's
(32:44):
you for excellence and speech, you and Donald kucherik in
Norbert Dietrich. How about that. Callers, if you are still
on hold, hang tight. We're going to talk to you
coming up and we will post those as an additional
podcast in about thirty minutes. Just hang tight right there,
It's that time time time, time, Luck and Load. The
Michael Verie Show is on the air. We're talking about
(00:43):
coffee shops and coffee generally. When we started looking for
a partner who would roast coffee, and we wanted a
Houston based coffee roaster provider, and we started going out
(01:04):
and there are there are several in Houston. There are
several really good coffees in Houston, but we landed on Cats. Now,
in fairness, they had a little bit of an advantage
because for years Magic at the Delhi downstairs served Cat's coffee,
(01:26):
and I had seen Kat's coffee around town k A.
T Z for years, and I thought Kats was a
national brand. I didn't know it was Avi Katz in
Houston over on Carbox Lane or whatever it is, where
the where the where the beer distilleries are is, where
his his roasting facility is. I didn't know that. But
(01:48):
when they submitted and we tasted, we all liked that.
I think probably partly because that's the coffee we've been
drinking for years and we've grown to really really enjoy it.
So when we narrowed it down to five and then
I think three, and we looked at all. Right, we
want a coffee that we like because we're going to
(02:11):
be committed to drinking as part of it. We want
you to be Houston based, We want you to be
supporters of Camp Hope. And you tell us what you're
going to do. Well, they just blew it out of
the water on that, on everything they've done and continue
to do. In fact, the only time I ever argue
with Avi Katz is him wanting me to be at
something he's doing for Camp Hope that I can't be
(02:33):
at because I'm traveling or whatever else. But he's got
a heart for Camp Hope and I love that. But
we were talking about coffee when you were growing up.
First of all, we as a kid, my parents were
big coffee drinkers and they weren't alcohol drinkers. So in
the late afternoon coffee was a treat for my parents.
(02:56):
They switch over to decaf, but we didn't eat out
because you know, I think about how my parents did
so much on so little. Well, part of that is
they didn't do some of the things we take for granted. Now,
if if you drove so if you ask your parents
to take you somewhere, they would refer to burning gas,
(03:16):
and I got to burn my gas to take you
over there. When you're doing something for them, why can't
they you know that sort of thing. Well, we just
we don't even think about that. We were going to
go somewhere with his drive. Well, that adds up. We
didn't eat out as a kid almost ever. We didn't
eat out. When we did, it was a treat, even
if it was burger king, it was a treat to
be eating out. We eat out all the time. Now
(03:37):
that's just a guilty indulgence. But we would have never
stopped at a convenience store for something we could have
at home for a whole lot cheaper. We would have
coffee at home, and we didn't. You didn't. You didn't
do it outside. But I've always loved you know. You
see this in the old movies, kind of no country
for old men kind of thing. And you see this
(04:00):
in lots of movies, and you've seen it in culture
where you walk in and there's a couple o in
the in the small town and there's a couple of
old guys sitting over at the table and maybe they're
playing cards or dominoes, are reading the paper or talking
about the high school football team, and that is just
a simpler time. And they're drinking their coffee. And this
(04:21):
is pre Starbucks. You remember those old It's not really
a coffee shop, it's it'd be it would be more
like the little might be the farmer's murcantill. You know
what I'm talking about. Ram Hey there, Bill, Hey, you doing?
Hey what those corn crops looking pretty good?
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Well, you know we take a dab by day.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Hey, you got a warm cup of coffee? Back then,
Bill say that Mustad's going to get it done this
year lost our quarterback, and that running.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Back time.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
To the basics of the Since we're on the subject
to simpler times and quirks of country folks. When the
pope passed, let's see, that was back in April, I
(05:17):
guessed at eighty eight. He had burial requests that became public,
and they were pretty simple. He wanted to be laid
to rest at the papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major
in Rome, where six other popes are buried. He wanted
a simple, undecorated tomb with only the inscription Franciscos according
(05:43):
to the Vatican, and that got a lot of attention
for this sort of humility. That was the statement I
think he was trying to send. He didn't want adornment,
he didn't want pomping circumstance. And we were talking and
had been talking since then about interesting burial requests, and
(06:07):
I brought up to the group that I don't know
what happens, kind of like homeschooling. I don't know what happened.
When I was growing up, nobody was cremated. If somebody
was cremated, they were weird, right, There was something about it,
kind of like homeschool. Somebody was homeschool. They were weird.
(06:27):
Now every other family, it feels like, is home especially conservatives.
And then all of a sudden, people, I'm just surprised
how many people of friends of mine and their families
are cremated today. And that just became sort of a thing.
And I don't know how that happened. I don't know
when that happened. I don't know how that happened. I
(06:49):
don't have a judgment of it one way or another.
It just became the case that a lot of people
in our circles are now cremated. And I never I
was part of the conversation how that became the case
when when that occurred. But we were talking in our family,
in our group about odd funeral and burial requests. You know,
(07:14):
Pooki liked to play dominoes in the front yard with
his homies, so he wanted to be seated in a
game of dominoes at his funeral. I don't know, I've
noticed that one of the things in southern Black funerals
that they're doing now is propping the body up at
the at the funeral. And look, I don't care. You
grieve the way you want to grieve. It's not a judgment,
(07:36):
but it is worth noting. Right, Uncle Bobby had a
hit record in the sixties, so he wonted that song
played while he was being lowered in the ground. More
power to you. I mean, it's the grieving process, and
it's whatever helps the person grieve by giving a last
(07:58):
you know, granting the last wish of that person. But
everybody had and I won't share what some of them
were because Ramon had some weird ones in his family.
But if somebody you know had an odd funeral or
burial request, or you do, we'd like to hear it.
Seven one, three, nine, nine, nine, one thousand weirder the
better seven one three, nine, nine, nine, one thousand. You
(08:23):
are listening to Michael Berry shaw.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
Wall.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
You wish you to let your well never alright. Weird
funeral requests ventriloquist and puppet. My son in law's uncle died.
His uncle's best friend was a ventriloquist with a puppet. Well,
nobody knew this. The funeral starts, the ventriloquist and the
(08:52):
puppet give the eulogy and a performance very very uncomfortable,
hard to keep from life laughing. Well maybe you were
supposed to laugh. Maybe maybe that was the plan. Use
an old Jewish tradition to have what we would today
(09:13):
call a roast where, uh you would you would basically
poke fun at the recently deceased, and uh that was
that was part of it's part of the part of
the grieving process I have noticed of late. Maybe this
(09:34):
is a long standing tradition. But in my family, we
were deep grievers. We were, you know, whalers, very very
sad at funerals. You know, you try to keep a
stiff upper lip, but you know, poor Southern people that
(09:56):
lots of lots of you know, very deep sadness in death,
and that was your way of showing how much you
cared for this person. I have noticed of late. Maybe
this is a big city thing, Maybe this is a
rich people thing. Maybe this's a modern thing. I don't know.
(10:17):
I have noticed more celebrations of life and fewer handwringing,
teeth gnashing, lamentations and wailing. And I must say I
prefer that. I do. I prefer a happier occasion to
remember what we've lost. Terry, what is your weird burial
(10:38):
request that you saw or have.
Speaker 5 (10:42):
It's my best friend's mom and she's still with us,
but my friend called the other day and she goes,
you're not going to believe what her mom did. She's
planning her funeral and she wants us all to see
Christmas music at the funeral. And I just love that,
and her kids will it too. It's unusual, but I
can see where that would make everyone there happy, and
(11:04):
I think that's what she wants.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
I think it's fantastic. Is she is she near death
or is this just something that she's planning like her Oh.
Speaker 5 (11:12):
No, she just yeah, it's her estate planning. She's a
very healthy woman in her eighties, and you know, she
just loves Christmas music, So that's what she wants.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
I think that's fantastic. I love it. I do you
know it's a and the fact that you're fulfilling her wish,
the fact that she has prepared this moment and doesn't
want you sad, but wants you to enjoy something that
she also enjoys. I will tell you, I think that
(11:45):
singing as a group is a very cathartic, happy, shared
fellowship and joy. I really enjoy it. That's why I
love to do listener events and get on stage. I
have to have a couple of pops before I do it,
but get on stage and everybody sing together. I think
that's so much fun. I grew up in the church
(12:07):
choir and everybody in church saying, you pulled out your
Baptist hymnal and everybody sang together. Christmas Caroline, we did that.
You go to the houses and knock on the door,
and everybody be so excited, and you know they'd sing
along with you. I have always enjoyed. I think one
of the most powerful commercials of all time is the
Coca Cola commercial. I'd like to teach the world to sing,
(12:29):
and then they brought that commercial back. But you can't
watch that commercial without being in a good mood, without
it improving your mood. Everybody there singing together, happy together.
I love that and I think there's definitely something to
be said for that. Let's go to Becky because that
was Tommy's girlfriend in Coward of the County and those
(12:52):
Gatland boys. Well, you know, thank you, Welcome to the progost.
What is your weird burial request you'd like to share?
Speaker 6 (13:02):
Well, it's not mine. It's my dad had a relative
long time ago that died in a car racket and
probably in the fifties or sixties, and her request was
to be buried in her neglige in her ferrari, and
they did that. If you google it you can see
(13:23):
the information about it. And I believe it was in California.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
And they buried the car, yes, and her and her neighborhood.
Speaker 7 (13:38):
Right.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Oh my, okay, Now.
Speaker 6 (13:41):
Did you go to this every once in a while, No,
I was a kid.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Sandra Hileen West of Beverly Hills socialite was buried in
her sixty field ferrari in Alamo Masonic Cemetery in San Anton,
Texas in nineteen seventy seven. She was laid the rest
of the car, wearing a lace nightgown. As per her
unusual request and her will, the car, a sixty four
Ferrari three thirty America, was placed in a concrete box
(14:10):
within the grave to deter grave robbers. According to report,
I didn't even think about that.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Huh.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
How about that she was buried in a white.
Speaker 6 (14:18):
Yeah, yeah, I forgot it was in San Antonio. I've
been to that gravesite and uh. Anyway, so that's my
strange and that.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Is that is your pharaoh first cousin.
Speaker 6 (14:36):
I believe it was a cousin. Yes, uh, huh, he
was seventy seven, he was.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
Probably in his thirties.
Speaker 6 (14:47):
Maybe forties. Uh, and I was, I was, I'm twenty four.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
This story he had, this story was covered at the time,
and it has been covered many many times since then.
Here's an article out of San Antoni from twenty twenty
one about it. Here's another one from twenty twenty three.
This thing, this continues what we fifty years later, it
(15:15):
continues to get attention. How about that? Well, that that's
a way a wager, you know, when we asked for
your strange burial request doesn't have to be yours somebody's
strange burial requests. I did not expect to get the
socialite married in a negligee in a ferrari, But here
(15:38):
we are. I'm glad we did all right, your costs
coming up? Allow me to introduce Spice. My name is.
Speaker 8 (15:43):
Mitch michael Berry, genius.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
My friend Chance, my superstar quarterback Woodlands, who then quarterbacked
at University of Texas, says, my dad's from Norway, so
we've always loved Viking culture. I've long said I wanted
a Viking burial. Don't know if I could pull it off,
but I'm a little concerned at how excited my son
(16:10):
is to be one of the archers. I don't know.
I don't know the process there, do you Reramo? No,
I don't know how the archers are involved, But this
little concern how excited his son is about it. Stanley
Wright's my mom asked everyone to wear Astros gear. She
was dressed in a pink Astros jersey. She had toilet
(16:30):
paper and peppermints in her casket because she constantly feared
she'd run out. She wanted a birthday cake and we
all sang Happy Birthday. She was a character Oh my,
they're coming in fast and furious. Let's go to the
calls first, shall we. Let's go down the line, Kurt. Kurt,
you're on the Michael Berry Show. What was the strange
(16:52):
burial request you witnessed?
Speaker 8 (16:56):
Hey, Michael, I'm it's a personal reques west myself. I
grew up in Southeast Texas, just like you, and I'm
an avid outdoorsman. And I've told my family that whenever
I die, go ahead and cremate me. And stuffed my
ashes in a shotgun shell, and when the family's out
there making one last hunt in the marshes of Southeast Texas,
(17:18):
will just blow my ashes over a duck pond at
the next flock that passes by.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
That's what hunter s Thompson had done. And he had
Johnny Depp fire of the cannon with his with his ashes.
So I'm obviously not an uncommon hunter. S Thompson loved guns,
and so they had a ceremony at al Farm, which
(17:45):
is in Woody Creek where he lived in Colorado, and
he wanted Johnny Depp to fire the canon of his
He took his own life. I he was only sixty
seven years old. He took his own life after threat
need to do so for quite some time, and he
had written out everything that he wanted done, and they did.
(18:06):
They had a rather debauched ceremony involving all sorts of
drugs and pyrotechnics and guns firing off, and then there
was the shooting of the of the cremated remains. Per
his wishes, apparently down to the tee ron, what is yours, sir?
Speaker 9 (18:30):
Well, this is the way I would like to go, sir,
I would like to go. I would like to be
in my bedroom with my loving wife, and I would
like to pass away on the upstroke. That way I
get two more when I'm gone.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
There you go. Chance Marck has answered the question as
to Viking burials. Viking burials are at sea. They put
them on a raft in a of hay. They push
it out into the water and flaming arrows are shot
to set it ablaze and you drift off to sea. Okay,
now we don't Mike, what is your strange burial request
(19:14):
that you have or have heard of?
Speaker 10 (19:18):
I don't know that there's it has been brought up,
but there's about eight or ten cadaver labs in the
Houston Medical Center and I want to be used for research.
And then they when they get through the body, they
cremate it and ask your relatives if they want the ashes.
Speaker 7 (19:39):
And I've told my kids.
Speaker 10 (19:41):
I don't care what they do with them, so but
you know, we but having a contributed to medical research
would be my request.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
I think that's very noble. Good sir, I think that's
very noble. Indeed, I know a lot of people have
withdrawn the organ donor designation. I've heard this to be
the case because of some cases where people felt that
(20:14):
they didn't get the end of life treatment because someone
wanted this or that. I don't know if that's true
or not. I don't know if that's a if that's
an urban legend or not. But I do know that
people have told me that they have withdrawn their organ donor.
Were you an organ donor? Ramon me too? But it
(20:34):
would be kind of awful if you laying there about
half dead and they go, oh, but he's mine. Wouldn't
be my liver or my lungs. I'm not sure what
I got a good ticker, they might say, but he
got a pretty good heart, you got good teeth? Okay, yeah,
they may they may go ahead and let you slip
slip the surly grasp of this earth to pull those
(20:57):
teeth out. Yeah, that's yeah, it could happen, URTIs, what's yours?
Speaker 7 (21:03):
Well, it wasn't my idea, but I like this person's
idea of after the ceremony or whatever it may be,
everybody would reach up and eat their seat and there
would be a taser and I would then there'll be
announced saying the last person standing gets my Harley.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Oh. I like that. That's kind of a yeah, that's
kind of a hunger game sort of deal out. That's
a that's cool, Famous, you're up, good morning.
Speaker 11 (21:34):
My request was for some mechanically engineered the individual to
actually what I'm laying in the coffin and there's a
momoil service for me to rise up in my head
and by the cup under my body, who would move
towards the individuals that are viewing me. And then when
(21:57):
they close the coffin, which I've heard that it was done,
but my request has been for twenty years or more,
was to actually do that is, when they close the coffin,
say please let me out, levey out please. But I've
been done already.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
I have heard versions of that and people pulling off
that prank of it. It's kind of a twisted sense
of humor that pulls that off. But I've got a
lot of friends that have twisted senses of humor. Laura,
you're on the Michael Berry Show. What is the strange
burial request you'd like to share?
Speaker 12 (22:33):
So?
Speaker 4 (22:34):
My dad had his own music party selected and it
was turnout the Life. The Party's over and he was
a truck driver, so he was carried out to Rubber
Ducky and then we had the radio station play that
as we Convoyd down to Livingston, adding.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Barry and is that a local radio station there in Livingston?
Speaker 4 (22:59):
No, we actually were were He was the funerals in Houston,
so it was one hundred point three.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
In the Bull And they did that for you on Q.
Speaker 4 (23:09):
Yeah, they did. My niece called in and said, hey,
we're carrying Papa down fifty nine and they said absolutely.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
How nice is that? Who was the DJ? Do you remember?
Speaker 4 (23:20):
I know, I don't remember. This was twelve years ago,
so I don't, but it was so kind of them.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
That is really that is really cool that they did that.
We can probably if it was twelve years ago, I
could probably find out. Let me ask you this, what
what time of day was it? Laura?
Speaker 4 (23:41):
It was noon, so I think the funeral was eleven.
By the time we got moving, it was noon, and
I could look up the day and email you and
see exactly what day we married.
Speaker 12 (23:51):
It was. He died September, so it was like the
eighth or let me just find out who the mid
day was at noon on the bull like this, that's
not one of our stations that I can send a gage.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Everything is ready for your car.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
Made rivers to crawl, but I can't seem.
Speaker 6 (24:37):
To find.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
My wheel over wandering naw Lorne's a travel along wag
clips on dover mad rivers the ball and it's only
(25:06):
my will that keeps me alive. I've washed up for you.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
If it's every late at night and you're missing people
you've lost and feeling a little maudeling morose, you can
go to YouTube and you can put in Jimmy Cliff
Many Rivers to Cross, and you will see among the
(25:41):
live versions of him performing that song, you will see
across about a thirty year period, him singing at three
different times at three different ages in his life. One
is the early probably recorded in a Jamaican recording studio
(26:06):
where he was splitting his time between there in London.
The second one on Top of the Pops or something
some English show, probably twenty years later, and then the
third one about ten years later on what must be
not Letterman but a late night show. It's an interesting
(26:31):
it's an interesting time lapse to perform, and I love
that song so much. It's a really interesting thing to do.
All right, let's go to Pat Ramon doesn't tell me
if it's a man or a woman, so I'll just
hold off on that. We're talking about strange burial request.
And the reason was back in April when Pope Francis
(26:54):
gave hit the dictates to the Vatican of how he
wanted to be buried, which was very simple. We talked
as a team and I figured, if it's something that
we care this much about, you probably would too. And
I have not been disappointed. So let's go to Pat. Pat,
you're on the Michael Berry Show. Go ahead.
Speaker 13 (27:13):
To piggyback on the gentleman who called about donating his body,
And I'm in the process of doing that, and so
I looked up donating my body to science at the
Baylor College of Medicine website, and there's a lot of
forms to fill out and there's a lot of caveats.
(27:35):
I guess if depending on if you have all your organs.
Speaker 14 (27:40):
Or you have to fill out all that kind of
that kind of stuff, and if they don't accept the body,
then you have to have alter a backup plan.
Speaker 13 (27:55):
So that anyway, and that's what I'm doing.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
So interesting, very interesting. Are you in good health or
is this something you're preparing for in the near future.
Speaker 13 (28:09):
No, I'm in pretty good health.
Speaker 14 (28:10):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
How old are you.
Speaker 13 (28:14):
Seventy three?
Speaker 1 (28:17):
You have a great voice.
Speaker 6 (28:20):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Are you nervous.
Speaker 14 (28:24):
A little?
Speaker 6 (28:25):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Okay, don't be. Tell me something about you, Pat that
I wouldn't expect, like were you born in Monterey or
were you the guy out in front of the tank
at Teneman.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Or did you know I'm a native Techan Okay, from
a very small town where my dad was a farmer,
farmer outside of Schulenberg. What's the town, Well, it's a
community really, it's called Moravia.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
I know what I know where Arabia is.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Yeah, mm hmmm.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Is your family Moravian?
Speaker 13 (29:08):
Yes, I'm third generation.
Speaker 7 (29:10):
Check so.
Speaker 13 (29:14):
I think I think my grandmother's uh side was from Dravilla, Czechoslovakia,
and then my grandpa's my mom's dad. I forget what
part in Chech, Czechoslovakia. They're from, of course, now Czech Republic.
Speaker 12 (29:31):
But have you been.
Speaker 13 (29:36):
Oh, yes, I've been to Prague.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
I love Prague.
Speaker 13 (29:42):
The Christmas market, Oh my god, yeah, I think.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
I think Prague and uh Vienna are two cities everybody
has to see. They're just absolutely glorious, just wonderful. And
I'll tell you the other one is h It's in
the old Yugoslavia and I've just lost it. Comment not
(30:09):
Sarajevo is beautiful. Oh, Budapest and Bucharest is also a
glorious said the Paris of the East is absolutely beautiful city.
What is the darn city? I cannot It's in Zagreb,
Zagreb's country. Yeah, Zagreb is a beautiful city, absolutely glorious.
(30:32):
What's your maiden named pat?
Speaker 13 (30:36):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (30:36):
Come on, well, I'm just trying to get your Czech
credentials here. You don't have to tell it if you
don't want tapoo? What tap How do you spell that?
Speaker 2 (30:48):
K l A.
Speaker 7 (30:51):
P U c H.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
I've never heard of that's.
Speaker 13 (31:01):
I took a couple of semesters of check and it's
a the professor said, it's a true check name and
it has no translation.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Well, there's a bunch of klop Is it clopuk or
klopooh the ch silent.
Speaker 14 (31:19):
Uh, yes, And my.
Speaker 13 (31:21):
Mother would say it's like.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Klopo.
Speaker 13 (31:25):
She would kind of, I don't know, she put the
check accent on the ch. But we all say clopuu.
But we've been called every name, you, cadital, hopper, everything
when we we were growing up, but we didn't care.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Did you know that you're in the Lagrange Journal for
Excellence in Public Speaking or something in nineteen seventy Is
that you? It's got to be you?
Speaker 13 (31:55):
Oh yeah, yeah, Yes, I was in a Yes, I
was in a competition. Sure was the cost I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Te What's amazing is that somehow, in the middle of
an article, somebody has been able to not just put
that into the mimiograph or whatever they call that, but
that somebody's been able to put that in a search
term portal so that the terms of the because they
(32:24):
it's a screenshot, right, so somehow they had to take
that screenshot, convert it to text, and make that searchable
for me. To find. That is in the Lagrange Journal,
Volume ninety one, number forty two, edition one, Monday, May
twenty fifth, nineteen seventy and there she is. Wow, that's
(32:44):
you for excellence and speech, you and Donald kucherik in
Norbert Dietrich. How about that. Callers, if you are still
on hold, hang tight. We're going to talk to you
coming up and we will post those as an additional
podcast in about thirty minutes. Just hang tight right there,
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On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Cold Case Files: Miami
Joyce Sapp, 76; Bryan Herrera, 16; and Laurance Webb, 32—three Miami residents whose lives were stolen in brutal, unsolved homicides.  Cold Case Files: Miami follows award‑winning radio host and City of Miami Police reserve officer  Enrique Santos as he partners with the department’s Cold Case Homicide Unit, determined family members, and the advocates who spend their lives fighting for justice for the victims who can no longer fight for themselves.