Casey Kasem
Casey Kasem’s twisted end-of-life saga didn’t end with his death. As noted in my previous blog post in June, his wife Jean, who lost control of Kasem’s medical and end-of-life decisions, still had the control of the late radio personality’s funeral plans. She’s having her revenge on Kasem’s adult children.
Jean, his second wife, plans to bury Casey’s remains in Norway, contrary to his desire to be interred in Los Angeles and against the rest of the family’s wishes. The Norwegian newspaper VG reported that Kasem will be buried in Oslo.
You’ve got to wonder, why Norway? I’m thinking it’s because it is so physically removed from his children, who took back control of their father’s care from Jean Kasem. After all, she she moved the demented Kasem, without telling his children, from a nursing home in L.A. to the home of friends in the state of Washington. There, his health took a steep dive, and the legal battles with his daughter Keri went into overdrive.
As his spouse, Jean Kasem is the conservator of his body and can do with it what she decides. But why fly it overseas to a country that’s not even part of his family history? Casey Kasem came from Armenian roots.
As I said in June’s blog post, putting Jean in charge of the funeral arrangements provides another opportunity for family discord. It would have been better for Casey to have made his funeral plans well before he sank into dementia. Pre-planning and pre-paying might have helped avoid this bizarre twist to an already tragic tale.