I just heard that Ronnie-boys casket...

[ThreeCatNight]

wieghs 700 pounds....What the hell?
Is it sold gold?
Perhaps lead lined?

[LTR]

1. They're burying his official papers with him

Don't ask about it. It's on a need to know basis, and you don't need to know.

Move along.

[RC]

5. Yeah, but where's ronnie's body?

stuffed in the family freezer back home awaiting the time modern technology can revive him again?

I'm assuming, of course, that they needed the extra room to hide the plume papers in his casket.

[Padraig18]

2. It's solid mahogany.

I used to work in a funeral home, and that's not unusual for a mahogany casket.

[liberalitch]

19. Teflon lined as well.....

a fried egg would sliiiiide right off

[CO Liberal]

3. According to NPR....

the casket alone weighed over 400 pounds, because it's mahogany. I guess when you add the weight of Reagan's body, it's much higher than that.

They were talking about that yesterday on "All Things Considered" - they said that was why there were eight pallbearers.

[TrueAmerican]

9. Does that mean Reagan was over 300 pounds when he died

I guess he didn't forget how to eat.

[stopbush]

26. He must have been on the Atkins diet!!!!!!!!

Remember how heavy Atkins was when he died? Oh, wait, Atkins wasn't overweight when he slipped on the ice, the extra weight came when the hospital pumped him full of liquids. Still, the media - and some on DU - had a field day with that one. Never mind.

I've got it...Reagan was still full of shit when he died. Bingo!

[CaptainClark23]

4. Bill Casey is in there with him

Just to make sure.....

[Ganja Ninja]

6. It's mahogany and cut from the last tree in the Brazilian rain forest.

Nothing is too good for Saint Ronnie.

[chromotone]

7. Wasn't Eisenhower buried in a standard GI-issue coffin?

I thought I had heard in my youth that he specified the basic coffin given fallen GIs and nothing more...

[elperromagico]

13. Apparently that's true.

Here's something about it:

http://www.nbcactionnews.com/kshb/entertainment/article/0,1925,KSHB_9403_2945819,00.html

After his state funeral in 1969, Dwight Eisenhower was returned for burial to his native Kansas. Wearing the green "IKE" jacket he'd made famous during World War II, Eisenhower insisted on being buried in a government standard-issue, $80 soldier's casket.

I think that says a lot about Eisenhower as a person...

[liberalitch]

21. always the soldier.....

never the king....

[Vickers]

14. I'd never heard that about Ike, but if Ronnie had been ...

...in a standard GI coffin, Georgie would've never shown up. He's skeered of them things.

[xultar]

16. BUHWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! N/T

[Padraig18]

17. *snarf*

:P

[LosinIt]

8. It was made by Marcellus Casket, which is now closed

In Central NY, saw it on the news. It was their super deluxe model. Nice to know that another company has closed. Probably due more to the prevalence of cremation than on business conditions, though.

[Padraig18]

12. Yep.

Marcellus made beautiful hardwoods; so does Batesville, who bought out Clarksburg Caskets, IIRC.

[ThreeCatNight]

15. But, isn't a shame to use

such beautiful and rare woods for something that after a couple of days, no one will ever see again?
Sorry, but I think it is a major waste.
My wife knows my wishes....a wake (no sevices), have the local Unviersity take what is left after I am done with this mortal shell, then cremation. What she does with the ashes is up to her.

[LibLabUK]

20. Question....

"have the local Unviersity take what is left after I am done with this mortal shell, then cremation. What she does with the ashes is up to her."

When you donate your body to medical science, do they return it afterwards (either as is or as ashes)?

[Padraig18]

22. Some do, some don't.

Some universities just cremate everyone's 'leftovers' all at once, and hold a memorial service. Some cremate individually, and dispose of the ashes per family request.

[mopaul]

10. ............

[eleny]

18. excellent choice of graveside figures

since that's what he did to most of us - trickled down.

[MichaelHarris]

11. they should check it for

WMD's

[kskiska]

23. It's lined with marble

The Rotunda duty is by no means easy. The pressure is intense, simply because of the gravity of the event, the live television feed, the constant flow of onlookers. But the people with the toughest job are the body bearers.

Reagan's wood casket weighs about 735 pounds, says Capt. William Weber, the officer in charge of the Marine Corps "World Famous Body Bearers" (unofficial slogan: "The Last to Let You Down"). A normal casket might be 400 pounds or so. The body bearers have heard that Reagan's is lined with marble. Their job was more than simply lugging the casket from the caisson to the Rotunda, up the Capitol steps. They had to do so in a certain ceremonial way. No leaning. No visible struggling. Stone faces throughout.

It was so heavy that the first eight body bearers (who came from all five military services) had to switch out with another team halfway up the steps. Then the first team switched back at the top of the steps, carrying the casket into the Rotunda.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32929-2004Jun10.html

[stavka]

24. Filled with Hair Dye to last for all eternity.....

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

25. it looked a lot lighter going down the steps

than it did going up. and did you see those men hoist that 700 pound casket up to shoulder height. either they have stronger men or that isn't the same casket they brought in.

as for the planning, i heard a dc police official say they have been planning this for months!!! how did they know he was going to die???