Guest 657- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 3,037
#1
I stumbled across this on myspace (by Lost and found Ohio.)
A smoker's final wish was fulfilled when his hearse was paraded through the streets bearing the sign Smoking Killed Me. Dick Whittamore's last request was that the stark message be displayed alongside his coffin and by his gravestone as a warning to others. The signs, printed in the same typeface as the health warnings on a cigarette packet, read Smoking Killed Me, Albert (Dick) Whittamore.
Passersby stopped to watch the unusual sight as the hearse travelled through the high street in Dover, Kent, where he lived. The former assistant theatre manager from Dover, Kent, suffered badly from emphysema, a lung disease caused by the toxins in cigarette smoke. He died aged 85 on February 16 in William Harvey Hospital in Ashford following a heart attack. He blamed his ill health on his addiction to tobacco in his youth.
Funeral director Paul Sullivan, 36, of Sullivan and Son undertakers in Dover, said the request in Mr Whittamore's will was an 'unusual one'. He said: 'He gave specific instructions in his will. Apparently he was a heavy smoker in his youth and he suffered from emphysema for several years, making his breathing very difficult.
'His will said he wanted to warn smokers what can happen if you continue the habit.
'We put the boards one each side of the coffin and one behind. His gravestone is going to have a traditional message on it, but we are to leave one of the printed boards saying "Smoking Killed Me" by the grave for one week. 'He wanted to do his bit to get the message across to people about the health problems which smoking can cause.' Mr Sullivan said Mr Whittamore, who was known as 'Dick' and had lived in Dover since he was 10, ran a printing shop for almost 50 years, never married and had no children. He was adopted and was buried alongside his adoptive mother. Emphysema is caused by cigarette smoking and it destroys the lung tissues and causes shortness of breath. Mr Sullivan added:' It is a very graphic image to have the sign by the coffin. 'I have never been asked to put signs in the hearse before, it is very unusual.'
The hearse went from Mr Whittamore's house through the streets, past the site of the old Royal Hippodrome Theatre where he was assistant manager and on to the cemetery. His friend, journalist Terry Sutton, 80, said: 'Dick was a great publicist - he loved the days when he worked at the Hippodrome Theatre.'He started as an errand boy before the war and during the war he was promoted to assistant manager.
Mr Whittamore's coffin lies in his grave at St Mary's Cemetery in Dover, Kent, alongside the sign 'He knew all the stars who came to the theatre before it was destroyed by enemy bombing during WW2. 'He loved to see the striptease artists there. In later years I would see him through the town in his mobility wheelchair and he was always very proud to have his age on a badge on his chest. 'He was a real character. He was a heavy smoker in his younger days so he asked his solicitors to make it public - he was doing this to persuade young people not to take up the habit. 'Although in an earlier will, he suggested strippergram girls should be at the graveside - but this was dropped.' A couple of dozen friends attended the funeral which was held at St Mary's Cemetery in Dover.
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
#2
Hi Jeane
That story was featured in the newspapers here this week and TerryN did a thread on it here on doverforum..called Dick Whittamore-A Nice Bloke. The man who died was clearly trying to get the anti-smoking message out. Smoking does indeed kill and Im sure many people have witnessed it doing so close to home, Ive had personal experience of that fact myself within my own family.
Guest 657- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 3,037
#3
Ah sorry PaulB didn't realise it had been posted here before, I obviously missed it. It popped up on my friend (from Ohio USA) myspace page this morning - news travels far. Indeed I have had the same with family members. I used to have the odd cigarette myself with a drink (when we could smoke in the pub) but once that stopped I hated standing outside so that prompted me to give up altogether.
Terry Nunn
- Location: London Road, Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,321
#4
A number of people have made the comment to me that Dick reached the ripe old age of 85 yet his coffin bore the legend that it did.
The point is that Dick only smoked for the early part of his life. That caused the emphysema that crippled him for nearly 40 years. Yes, smoking did indeed kill him................. slowly.
Terry
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Guest 657- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 3,037
#5
Awful, poor fellow. May he RIP.
#6
We all have to die eventually, so I don't get hung up on cause as we're all different. I would however, prefer to live my life the way I want, within reason, without being told every 5 minutes that this is good for me or bad for me etc.
God gave me the freedom of choice, man chooses to take that away from me.
Guest 690- Registered: 10 Oct 2009
- Posts: 4,150
#7
Don`t know who gave me the freedom of choice Sid, but the choice is the individual`s. This chap lived to a good age speaking in human terms, (in my interests, the human life span is not long at all, something taken for granted by many). I don`t smoke, but my dad did and it killed him in the end, courtesy of British Railways and their king sized cigarette`s at a very cheap price for ship`s crew only.
Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
Guest 672- Registered: 3 Jun 2008
- Posts: 2,119
#8
My Grandad died 3 yrs ago, 99yrs and 8 months old.
Smoked a pipe since he was 13yrs old and very few illnesses in his life.
Smoking kills, I'm aware of that. So do buses, Trains, Cars, People, Planes, hippo's, Tiggers and fings like that.
I never annoyed people when it was legal so why am I penalised now?
grass grows by the inches but dies by the feet.
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
#9
ian,well posted.i cant understand why either.
Guest 672- Registered: 3 Jun 2008
- Posts: 2,119
#10
Another thread dead I take it?
grass grows by the inches but dies by the feet.
Guest 690- Registered: 10 Oct 2009
- Posts: 4,150
#11
Maybe everyone`s frightened of getting addicted to your post Ian? I thought you might have got at least 20 a day on here. May be better if you scroll your own.
Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
Guest 693- Registered: 12 Nov 2009
- Posts: 1,266
#12
My Grandad died in 1966 from lung cancer and other associated illnesses (I don't know what they were) at the age of 58. He smoked 60 Senior Service a day.
Despite that I myself smoked for 19 years, at least 20 B&H a day, and managed to give up on New Year's Eve, 1999, so just over 10 years off it now.
What I felt then and what I feel now is that people should have the right to smoke if they wish without nanny state laws making them modern lepers. Through the outrageous taxes on tobacco the contribution smokers make to our Exchequer is enormous, yet they are ostracised, made to feel leeches on the NHS, outlawed in pubs, cafés, restaurants and on public transport and generally as though they are the scum of society. This has to stop. Smokers keep pubs and restaurants open, and it should be for the individual landlord or owner to opt in or opt out of no-smoking laws, not for the control freaks in Westminster to decide that there shall be no smoking anywhere, ever.
Why can there be no such thing as a smoking carriage on a train any more? They are compartmentalised which keeps the smell and the smoke within a finite boundary. Why can you not smoke on an aeroplane any more? The air in a modern jet is changed every 12 minutes, and the smoking section was always at the back, out of the way of those who found it offensive. NHS Hospitals now ban smoking from not only the building itself, but also the grounds. Why?
Smokers are the victims of modern day witch hunts; who will the smoking Nazis turn on when they get their way and the whole thing is outlawed completely? I rather hope they will turn their sights on the banking industry, who have done far more damage to the British economy than an army of chain smokers could ever hope to do.
Someday in the not too distant future, when smoking has been viped off ze face of ze planet, when taxation on beer and wine has eradicated the pub trade completely, when budget cuts have reduced our councils and armed forces to history, when parents have been banned from even looking at their own children, and housing developments have taken away the last green field, some smug arse in Whitehall can sit back and think over a job well done.
True friends stab you in the front.
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
#13
andy,
#14
Mainly because wherever a smoker smokes that foul stench that clings to everything will drift where it wants to and doesn't recognise artificial barriers lie doors and walls! I too believe you have the right to smoke, but not anywhere near me, as I have a right to clean air, which takes a priority over the toxic stuff as it does not kill you and isn't inflicted! I have seen too many people suffer hideous fates BECAUSE of smoking. None of this namby-pamby lack-of-evidence-my-great-grandmother-smokes-134-fags-a-day-and-is-still-alive-at-172 - smoking kills and it inflicts pain and suffering. I have seen people with limbs amputated and unable to breath without cylinders. people reduced to lumps of rotting flesh sitting in a bed BECAUSE of smoking.
You have the right to risk that, but not to expect the rest of us and our children to risk it on your behalf.
#15
So, we need to find a compromise Bern rather than just look to the politicos to come up with some draconian solution that only works for some of the people some of the time.
#16
What's to compromise? Don't smoke near me or my folk, don't litter the streets with fag-ends, and I won't break wind in your direction or poison your tea!!!!! I have to say, the not breaking wind thing is worth the sacrifice.........
Guest 693- Registered: 12 Nov 2009
- Posts: 1,266
#17
As you'll see, Bern, I gave up 10 years ago. Like you, I couldn't bear the smell, especially on my clothes.
However, the answer isn't to ban smoking altogether; there are some habits I find as disgusting as you do smoking, yet they are permitted because we live in a supposedly free society. Yes, you have a right to clean air - so don't go into pubs that opt in to a smoking policy. That way, freedom of choice is restored, as opposed to the right wing fascism in Britain today.
And, just for the record, please note that my Grandad died of lung cancer at an early age. Please don't 'tar' me (sorry) with the "None of this namby-pamby lack-of-evidence-my-great-grandmother-smokes-134-fags-a-day-and-is-still-alive-at-172 - smoking kills and it inflicts pain and suffering" quote. In my original post I accepted that smoking is dangerous. I gave up of my own will, not because some officious Whitehall git sent me to Coventry for not being a model citizen.
True friends stab you in the front.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#18
well bern
if tobacco smoke is so pervasive that it goes through doors and walls, you may be passively inhaling someones cigarette from the next road.
#19
I note that 'No Smoking Day', a registered charity (though funded by our taxes) spent £50,000 last year on a campaign aimed specifically at Her Majesty's Forces.
Personally I wish that my money had been spent on equipment.
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
#20
the none smoking day one phrase comes to mind,it dosent work like every year people make resalutions to give up smoking.in which they do for a couple of days then start again for some reason or another.
