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Written proof Williams had pact with family to have body frozenPosted: Thursday July 25, 2002 12:45 PMUpdated: Thursday July 25, 2002 6:43 PM
MIAMI (CNN) -- Two of Ted Williams' children went to court Thursday with a raggedy, oil-stained document they said bears the baseball legend's valuable signature on a consent form to have his body frozen after death. Bob Goldman, an attorney for John-Henry and Claudia Williams, said he hopes that the document will end a legal fight with Williams' other daughter, Bobby-Jo Williams Ferrell, who has been trying to have her late father's body taken from an Arizona cryonics facility and cremated. "I sincerely hope that Bobby-Jo meant what she said when she said, 'Hey, show me the writing and I'm done,'" Goldman said. Goldman disputed claims by Ferrell, who was disinherited by her father, that she is only trying to do what he would have wanted. "He did not like her," he said. "She's suggesting that she knows what his wishes were. He never would have shared them with her. Never." Williams died July 5, and controversy ensued when his body was taken to Arizona for freezing. Goldman said he plans to argue that the Florida judge hearing the case does not have the jurisdiction to order that the body be returned across state lines. On Thursday, Goldman released photocopies of a pact allegedly signed in November 2000, in a Gainesville, Fla., hospital room in which Ted Williams and his two children agreed they all would be "put in biostasis" after death "to be able to be together in the future even if it is only a chance."
Goldman said the document was written by John-Henry Williams before his father underwent "serious surgery." He said the father's signature is just as authentic as the autographs John-Henry used to videotape when his dad signed balls and bats. "I want to be clear on this, 100 percent, that that is an authentic signature," he said. "I know that not only because my clients have said so, and they were there, but we have looked into this issue." He did not elaborate. Ferrell wants to abide by the terms of Williams' will, written in 1996, which says the one-time Boston Red Sox slugger wanted his body cremated. But executor Albert Cassidy said Williams later changed his mind and agreed to have his body preserved. Goldman said the reason the children did not produce the biostasis agreement earlier was because of "privacy issues." The piece of paper, which is oil-stained and ragged, originally was in a file in the back of John-Henry's car, the attorney said; later it was moved to "a very secure place." When asked if the non-notarized document could hold up court, Goldman said that under Florida common law, a person may change his or her mind about the disposition of remains without officially amending the will. The disposition of assets, however, would have to be changed under a notary's signature. The attorney said Williams' doctor has stated the baseball player had a sharp mind up until his death at the age of 83. Ferrell was excluded from any inheritance by Williams' will.
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Attorneys for John Henry Williams produce a handwritten document they say ends the speculation. 
