My Father’s Lost and Found Corpse

What happens when your mother refuses to bury your father

Catherine Prendergast
Human Parts
Published in
10 min readSep 19, 2019

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Photo: Freaktography/Getty Images

II have tried and failed many times to imagine the exact words the funeral director selected when he called my mother to persuade her to pick up her husband’s body. The funeral had ended weeks before. And yet, there my father’s remains remained. I’m sure funeral homes must often call patrons to pick up something…

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Catherine Prendergast
Human Parts

Professor at the University of Illinois and author of The Gilded Edge (Dutton Press, Oct. 2021). Representation: Anna Sproul-Latimer of Neon Literary.