Sunday, August 24, 2014

Where Will Casey Kasem Rest In Peace?

Where will Casey Kasem's final resting place be?
The wife of the late legendary US radio personality wants to bury him in Norway, citing her Norwegian heritage. Jean Kasem, his wife of nearly 34 years, earlier this month claimed she would be moving to Norway soon. She also claimed KC "always said that Norway symbolizes peace and looks like heaven and I would like to respectfully fulfill his wishes."
But his children have asked Norway to deny their stepmother's request. Kasem's relatives and friends, incl.former Lt-Governor of California Mike Curb, say the late DJ always wanted to be buried in California, where he lived for 53 years.
KC's children from his first marriage say Jean kept them from visiting or speaking to their father for nearly a year before his death.
A spokesman for the Norwegian funeral home embroiled in this action says: "We are looking at it again to see if we made the right decision. The relatives are saying she has no ancestry in Norway — she does from Europe but not from Norway — and they say that she’s not going to move to Norway at all. We don't know if it's true. Our lawyers need to to do more research."
Kasem, host of American Top 40, died in June of dementia. Jean Kasem moved his remains to Canada last month, where she intended to bury him...now his body has arrived in Oslo.
The issue will set a legal precedent in Norway. "We haven’t had any cases of foreigners wanting to be buried here, who are not Norwegian themselves or living in Norway. So this is a very special case. There is no law against this. It's up to us to accept it or not."
Jean Kasem has not let officials know when she intends to bury her husband.
A quick ancestry search shows no Norwegian heritage in Jean Kasem's family for at least three generations.
Casey Kasem's publicist, Danny Deraney, has said Kasem had told both friends and family that he wanted to be buried in Los Angeles.

No comments: