funny funeral moments

[SleepyMom]

This happened at my Great Uncle's funeral and we still give my SIL a hard time about it.

We were sitting in a pew farther back in the church (thankfully), it was my DD, myself, my DB and his wife and then my Mom. They had a intern Pastor who did part of the service and when he started reading the 23rd Psalm my SIL put her hands over her face. Pretty soon she put her head down and her shoulders were just shaking. My DB put his hand on her shoulder and tried to shush her. I thought to myself, "wow, I didn't realize she was the close to to my Great Uncle". Well, it didn't take long before I realized she was laughing, NOT crying. The tears were just running down her face and that got my DD, myself and DB going as well. Afterwards we found out what had set her off... when the intern Pastor started reading it sounded like the waiters in a Christmas Story, the ones on Christmas Day who sing fra, ra ra ra ra, ra ra ra ra and she couldn't contain herself.

 

[princess pooh]

At my grandmother's funeral, my cousin tried to give the eulogy in French which was her first language. I was completely distraught and wasn't listening until something he said caught my attention. Instead of saying great-grandmother my cousin called her a retarded grandmother . I thought I heard wrong until I saw the look on my mother's face. My friends told me they were bawling and laughing at the same time.

I think my grandmother would have found it funny too!

 

[Nancy]

I had a friend a few years back, a young man all of 18 who died in a car accident. Shad was very popular and LIVED with his cell phone glued to his ear. It was only natural that the phone be buried with him. In fact the phone was placed in his hand with the headset in his ear. After the service, the casket was closed and we all headed to the cemetary. As we stood around the gravesite we kept hearing a muffled version of Toby Keith's Should Have Been A Cowboy. There was only 1 place it could be coming from. It must have rang 5 different times. It was never discovered whether someone was calling and really didn't know he had passed away or whether as a final goodbye his friends were quietly dialing his number one last time. The minister made a cute comment about him being as popular in heaven as he was on earth. Of course, as the casket was being lowered and the dirt thrown in we all joined in and called him one more time. He was buried while being serenaded by his cell phone playing his favorite song.

While that is a funny story it brought tears to my eyes to think his friends were calling him one last time.

 

[Aurora63]

These are all very funny!

I've been to two funerals in my life, one was my grandmothers (which was sad) and the other was an eighteen year old friend who had been shot while picking up a friend at work (horrible, horrible, sad story.) It was at that funeral that I had a major laugh attack.

My sister, best friend (who was a guy) and I were sitting together in the church, and everything had gotten started when a singer started doing his song...well, it was AWFUL...overly done operatic, and totally misplaced...I started to giggle and couldn't stop. Then my sister sees me, realizes what's going on, and starts to giggle too. So every time we look at each other, it gets worse.

So I put my head on my best friends sholder, he thinks I'm crying and puts an arm around me to comfort me. After awhile he looks down at my face and is just mortified. He can't help but to look at the two of us and shake his head in disbelief! I felt really stupid and embarrassed, but I do think it was a stress reaction as well as a reaction to bad singing!

 

[Kitty 34]

Kind of gross but we know Grandma would have loved this but her urn fell over in my aunt's car so we almost had Grandma everywhere in the front seat!!

 

[yeartolate]

A coworker of mine was deathly afraid of freeways.

Well, from the funeral parlor they all get in their cars to drive to the gravesite. The funeral processional was rather long and she was the forth or fifth car. In order to get the cemetary they proceeded toward the freeway. She chickend out of going on the freeway and decided to go home. She got home only to find the rest of the processional followed her. (at least 20 cars)

 

[sleepyone]

A coworker of mine was deathly afraid of freeways.

Well, from the funeral parlor they all get in their cars to drive to the gravesite. The funeral processional was rather long and she was the forth or fifth car. In order to get the cemetary they proceeded toward the freeway. She chickend out of going on the freeway and decided to go home. She got home only to find the rest of the processional followed her. (at least 20 cars)

Oh. My. Goodness. I'd be so embarrassed!

 

[Cyndiu]

My FIL passed away in November. He was a lovely man with a terrific sense of humor. At the reception after the funeral we started telling "Pop" stories to each other and within minutes we were all laughing so hard that we had tears in our eyes (not the sad kind).

Anyway, some random woman outside (who wasn't at the funeral) wandered up to the window and with hands framing her eyes, to shield the sun, leaned on the glass to look in at us. Well, she was there for a while, so I offered $5 to anyone who would go up to the glass (from the inside) and kiss the woman on the "mouth". (through the glass) My niece's 18 y/o boyfriend said, "I'll do it!" and he did. The woman jumped back about three feet and turned around and got out of there! We laughed hysterically for a LONG time. When I gave the boyfriend his $5 he asked me who that woman was. I told him I didn't know and he blushed beet red. He told me that the reason he did it was because he thought I knew her!" We laughed for another 30 minutes!

 

[mrsheppo]

At my dad's funeral, the minister eulogized what a wonderful fine man "Frank" was. "Frank" was active in community affairs, in the Elks Lodge, a loving father and grandfather. "Frank" was such a great guy and a personal friend to the minister. My DBs, DS and I couldn't keep our laughter stifled. The minister even told us to shush.

Too bad dad's name was Fred, not Frank.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

At the wake of a friend of my husband's (a fraternity brother)...it was open casket. He was a college student and died in an accident. He did have a girlfriend. He was wearing I guess a shroud or something. Catholic service--and this was something that I guess some catholics are buried in. I thought it was weird (not Catholic at the time) but didn't say anything.

So it is me and hubby (then b-friend) and his frat brothers and the girlfriend. And she's just going on about "what the heck they had him wearing b/c he would NEVER pick it out". In retrospect it was kind of funny given the tragedy. I think we did laugh at the time but very very very very very quietly.

 

[minkydog]

I thought my Dad's funeral was pretty cool. In his little town, most people have just a grave-side service so that what we planned. The only problem was, we needed a preacher and dad wasn't much of a churchgoer. So, the funeral director,dad's first cousin, recommended the young new preacher in town. Young New Preacher came over to visit before the big day, interviewed us about Dad, and we took that opportunity to kinda fill him in on some of the family details (the fact that my dad was not a real stand-up guy, hated outdoor stuff, was a womanizer, etc)so he wouldn't say something that makes him look like an idiot

So poor Young New Preacher has his work cut out for him. We all gathered under the tent in a light breeze, the family seated in the front so we can see Dad's box and his pictures. Cousin speaks, best friend speaks, then Preacher speaks. Bless his heart, I don't think he heard a word we said He went on about what a great guy Dad was, how much he loved his home & family(not!), but when he started gushing about how Dad just "loved hunting & fishing" my brother leaned forward and whispered,"yeah, fishing for money & hunting some tail". Well, then my three sisters started giggling, some of the bystanders start giggling, and one woman in the crowd who sees us all hunched over barely containing ourselves bursts out in wail that would wake the dead. That just made us laugh harder.

I couldn't wait to get out of there. We all went back to the house, broke out the beer & BBQ, saddled up the pony and took turns telling awful stories about Dad.He woulda loved it--one of the best funerals I ever went to. But I don't think the Preacher will ever come over again.

 

[mtblujeans]

My Dad passed away very quickly and unexpectedly. My mom kept him on life support until my sister and I could get there. We said our "good byes" and they took him off life support. We then went to the funeral home to make arrangements. The woman at the funeral home kept asking us how Dad would have liked this or that done. We started talking about Dad and his personality and memories came flooding up and we all started laughing about the funny things Dad had done during his life and the fun way he looked at things. We all had tears running down our faces and, by the time we got to the funeral home, one of us was carrying a box of tissues with us....but we sat there and laughed for more than an hour! She looked at us like we were nuts! It was good we did that, tho', because I have missed my Dad terribly and I have not laughed about him since that day!

 

[Sthronds]

At my Great Uncle's funeral, the priest (who didn't know the family) couldn't remember my aunt's name and kept referring to her as "The Widow Harrison". Poor thing was only a widow for 3 days and already had a label! Guess what we call her now. . .

 

[AMcaptured]

At my grandmother's funeral, my grandfather's brother refused to get out of his car at the cemetary because it had started to drizzle and he was afraid his hair and beard would run, never mind his chest hair. He was a real character who at 75 was still in a "band" and never left his house without putting a black rinse on his hair to cover his grays. He always wore his shirts open to his waist too, thus the reason the chest hairs got covered in rinse also....!!

I honestly don't think there are as many eccentric's and characters in families as there used to be, either that or I am just more used to weirdo's than I use to be...

 

[figment52]

A coworker of mine was deathly afraid of freeways.

Well, from the funeral parlor they all get in their cars to drive to the gravesite. The funeral processional was rather long and she was the forth or fifth car. In order to get the cemetary they proceeded toward the freeway. She chickend out of going on the freeway and decided to go home. She got home only to find the rest of the processional followed her. (at least 20 cars)

They must have only received one direction .... "follow the car ahead of you."

 

[Jeafl]

I am so relieved that I am not the only one who has laughing fits at funerals!

Two of the latest escapades of mine...

My great uncle Paul died a couple of years ago. We were not particularly close, but it was expected that my sisters and I would go to the funeral. It was a full Catholic mass in a very old church that had marble floors. Well, at a certain point in the mass, we were supposed to kneel. My sister forgot to put the kneeler down and her knees hit the floor, with this horrifying 3 Stooges coconut sound. She was startled and said "what the hell!!" where upon I started laughing softly. I looked at her out of the corner of my eye and noticed she was laughing as well. At that point, I was out of control and as hard as I tried, I could not get a grip. The two of us were shaking uncontrollably. The woman behind us thought we were crying and put her arms around us saying "there, there, Paul wouldn't want you to be sad.". That made us laugh even harder. My sister then snorted and I totally lost it! I had to leave the church in humiliation.

A couple of years before that, my great-aunt Stella had died. The first night of the wake my second cousin's goofball of a husband sauntered up to the casket, looked down, and said loudly "Yep, that's Stell!". Who the heck did he think was going to be in there? My sister and I lost it again. The next day at the funeral mass my little nephew was sitting in church in front of us. They were old wooden pews, and pretty uncomfortable. At one point in the mass it was totally silent, and my nephew leaned over on one butt cheek and just let one rip very loudly. He then proceeded to say "aaahhhh" quite loudly. It really echoed off that wooden bench. I really thought I was going to lose it.

 

[sleepyone]

That first one is so hilarious! Coconut"what the hell"snorting I'm still laughing!

I am so relieved that I am not the only one who has laughing fits at funerals!

Two of the latest escapades of mine...

My great uncle Paul died a couple of years ago. We were not particularly close, but it was expected that my sisters and I would go to the funeral. It was a full Catholic mass in a very old church that had marble floors. Well, at a certain point in the mass, we were supposed to kneel. My sister forgot to put the kneeler down and her knees hit the floor, with this horrifying 3 Stooges coconut sound. She was startled and said "what the hell!!" where upon I started laughing softly. I looked at her out of the corner of my eye and noticed she was laughing as well. At that point, I was out of control and as hard as I tried, I could not get a grip. The two of us were shaking uncontrollably. The woman behind us thought we were crying and put her arms around us saying "there, there, Paul wouldn't want you to be sad.". That made us laugh even harder. My sister then snorted and I totally lost it! I had to leave the church in humiliation.

A couple of years before that, my great-aunt Stella had died. The first night of the wake my second cousin's goofball of a husband sauntered up to the casket, looked down, and said loudly "Yep, that's Stell!". Who the heck did he think was going to be in there? My sister and I lost it again. The next day at the funeral mass my little nephew was sitting in church in front of us. They were old wooden pews, and pretty uncomfortable. At one point in the mass it was totally silent, and my nephew leaned over on one butt cheek and just let one rip very loudly. He then proceeded to say "aaahhhh" quite loudly. It really echoed off that wooden bench. I really thought I was going to lose it.

 

[BuckNaked]

FIL was diagnosed as terminal in July, 2004, and DH started going to see him just about every weekend (we live 6.5 hours away). As it became obvious that time was running out, DH took a few things down, including his suit, to have at the house so that he wouldn't have to worry about it later.

When we were dressing to go to the funeral home the first night, DH couldn't find his suit, so he wore something else and we figured we'd look for the suit later. Upon arriving at the funeral home, we took a look at his dad, and at the same time said "The suit!!!".

Turned out it wasn't DH's suit (we found his the next day), but the suit his dad was wearing in the casket looked just like DH's, and even SMIL thought she might have sent the wrong one to the funeral home. We had a good laugh about FIL looking down, shaking his head and saying "Dumbasses!!"

 

[Stacerita]

My uncle passed away about a year and a half ago and it was quite sudden. He was only 54 at the time. He was not traditional by any means. He was a vietman vet, a surfer, and a musician. His two fave musicians were Stevie Ray Vaughn and Jimi Hendrix. So in keeping with his non traditional ways, my cousins choose one selection from each of his fave musicians to be played at his funeral. A few "traditional" songs were played at the begining of the service. The minister spoke, the eulogy was given, some words by other family memebers were spoken. Then there was a time for reflection during which "his" songs were to be played. The music started and while we were all sobbing pretty hysterically (my family is small and we are very close so this death his us extemely hard) the minister ran over to where we were sitting started calling our names and frantically tried to get our attention. He leaned in and started to apologize for them playing the wrong music. He thought since we were sobbing so loud that we couldn't hear and hadnt realized it was wrong. We all looked up and just stared at him. He once again said sorry about the music. We all started to smile a bit, and told him, no this "IS" the music we choose. He said "are you sure?" And thats when we all started giggling. The service ended and we went out to the graveside and he brought up the music again. He said that he was pretty sure that that was probably the first, last and only time Hendrix would ever be played in the chapel. Now every time I hear those songs, I get a good giggle out of it.

 

[Angelrose]

These are great! More please.