too damn spooky for me[&:]
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Harley hearses prove it's never too late to go for a ride in style






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By Anne Krueger
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
February 19, 2007
Jose Santana hadn't ridden a motorcycle in years, but when the 67-year-old Jamul man died of a stroke last week, his four children wanted his funeral to reflect his free-wheeling side.
They agreed their father's idea of heaven would be a final ride in a Harley-Davidson hearse.






CHARLIE NEUMAN / Union-Tribune[/align]El Camino Memorial's Doug Trobaugh drove a Harley-Davidson hearse carrying the casket of Jose Santana down Steele Canyon Road on Saturday. The mortuary began using the hearse last month.
[align=center]Click for larger image[/align][/align]“They said it was a Harley, and I said, 'Yeah, he'd like that,'” son Jorge Santana said. “My dad liked his freedom.”
So Saturday at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Jamul, a black three-wheeled hog with shiny chrome fixtures pulled a glass coach with Santana's casket inside. Driver Doug Trobaugh wore a black leather jacket embossed with “El Camino Memorial,” the mortuary where he works.
Santana's funeral was the third time El Camino Memorial has put the $80,000 hearse in service since the Sorrento Mesa-based mortuary began using it in mid-January.
Two Harley hearses are in use west of the Mississippi, according to manufacturer Tombstone Hearse Co. of Alum Bank, Pa. The other is in Victorville.
The hearses are a hit with bikers, veterans, even little old ladies, said Tombstone owner Jack Feather, who came up with the idea of hitching a hog to a burial coach five years ago and has sold 18.
Veterans' families like the coach's glass sides “because then they can view the flag-draped casket. It reminds them of a military caisson,” Feather said.





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Advertisement[/align] [/align]And seniors? “They think it'd be a real hoot for their friends to see them,” he said.
Mike Miller, president of El Camino Memorial, said the Harley hearse is part of an effort to make funerals less somber and more celebratory. Miller said funeral directors want to offer creative ideas that focus on life, not death.
“We don't want to be Herman Munster,” Miller said, referring to the character on the 1960s TV sitcom. “We're about caring for people and giving them services about the life they've lived.”
For now, El Camino isn't charging extra for the use of the Harley hearse. Miller said an additional charge may be added if demand increases. Three El Camino Memorial managers who ride Harley-Davidsons, including Trobaugh, talked Miller into buying the outfitted Road King.
Trobaugh, a member of San Diego HOG, a club for Harley lovers, said the group wants to use the hearse for charitable events in which they'll load up the glass coach with blankets for the homeless or toys for orphans.
The hearse already has gotten lots of attention. In the first funeral, the young man who died was placed in a gold casket inside the coach. El Camino's offices were flooded with calls from people who thought a celebrity had died.
“Our receptionist said we treat all their families like they're a star,” Miller said.
This month, the family of Robert Montano, 31, of National City chose the Harley hearse for his funeral.
Carmen Montano said her brother, a construction worker, l

 

Spooky

 

All I get is the dreaded red X but your sig looks good