AP/Wide World Photos
The inscription on the grave marker belonging to Terri Schiavo that reads "I kept my promise" is simply a message from her husband to his dead wife and is not meant to anger her family, the woman's brother-in-law said Tuesday.
Brian Schiavo told The Associated Press that he and a handful of other people attended the burial of Terri Schiavo's remains on a rainy Monday afternoon at a Clearwater cemetery. Others present included her husband, Michael Schiavo, her other brother-in-law, Steve Schiavo, and a priest.
But the woman's parents criticized Michael Schiavo for not notifying them about the burial beforehand and by inscribing "I kept my promise" on the bronze marker. Michael Schiavo had said he promised his wife he would not keep her alive artificially - a critical element of the acrimonious legal battle over her end-of-life wishes.
Michael Schiavo, who received possession of his wife's remains after her death March 31, had said her ashes would be buried at a family plot in Pennsylvania. But she was instead buried at Sylvan Abbey Memorial Park in Clearwater, near Michael Schiavo's home.
On the grave marker, Michael Schiavo also listed Feb. 25, 1990, as the date his wife "Departed this Earth." On that date, Terri Schiavo collapsed and fell into what some doctors said was an irreversible vegetative state. Schiavo actually died March 31, nearly two weeks after her feeding tube was removed by court order. The grave marker lists that date as when Schiavo was "at peace." Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, had opposed her cremation.David Gibbs, the Schindlers' attorney, said the family was notified by fax only after Monday's service, when the family had already started getting calls from reporters.
The interment comes less than a week after an autopsy report was released revealing that Terri Schiavo was almost certainly in a persistent vegetative state and that her body showed no signs of abuse by her husband, which had been alleged by her family. The cause of the 1990 collapse that left her with severe brain damage was not determined.
The report prompted Gov. Jeb Bush to ask the Pinellas County chief prosecutor to investigate what happened the night Terri Schiavo collapsed. The governor cited an alleged gap in time between when her husband found her unconscious and called 911. The husband says there was no delay in making the call.
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