Man dies on way to his wife's funeral — so the family holds a doubleheader

A promise kept

Norman Hendrickson was known for telling jokes and never wasting money. So when the 94-year-old World War II veteran died suddenly while being driven to his wife's funeral, his daughters knew exactly what to do: hold a doubleheader service.

The impromptu wake was held on Saturday at the same eastern New York funeral home — Ackley and Ross in Cambridge — where his wife Gwen's funeral was already scheduled. Gwen was 89 when she died on February 8. After Norman died just steps from the funeral home, the couple who had been together since meeting in Europe during the war would be mourned at the same time, in the same room.

"After we had a little time to process the shock and horror, we felt we couldn't have written a more perfect script," daughter Norma Howland said. "My sister said the only thing he didn't do was fall into the casket."

The last ride

Norman, a former assistant postmaster in Cambridge — about 35 miles northeast of Albany — was riding in a limousine to his wife's service when he stopped breathing. Funeral director Jim Gariepy, who is also the local coroner, began CPR while funeral home owner Elizabeth Nichols-Ross and one of Norman's sons-in-law raced across town to retrieve his do-not-resuscitate orders from the Hendricksons' refrigerator door. Once the orders were in hand, the emergency crew ceased their efforts. He died on the sidewalk.

Daughter Merrilyne Hendrickson then asked that her father's body be placed in a casket in the viewing room alongside her mother's cremated remains. Mourners arriving for Gwen's funeral were greeted by a note Merrilyne posted at the entrance: "Surprise — It's a double header — Gwen and Norman Hendrickson — Feb. 16, 2013."

Nichols-Ross didn't charge the family for Norman's wake — and on his prayer card she joked that he had chosen to die in the limo headed to the funeral to get "a buy-one-get-one-free deal."

"If it had happened with somebody else like this it would have been sad, but with Norm it wasn't," Nichols-Ross said. "It was just so much like Norm."

"We have had a good long life together"

Norman was overseas with the U.S. Army when he met Gwen, who was serving in the British Royal Air Force. She immigrated to the United States, and they were married in May 1947 — nearly 66 years together.

Howland said her parents had jokingly promised never to leave one spouse behind. After her mother died, she overheard her father say aloud: "We have had a good long life together. I love you. I'll miss you and watch for me."

Archive story, February 2013, based on reporting by the Albany Times Union and the Associated Press.