Sherman Helmsley To Be Buried, Four Months After Death, In Funeral Open To Public
El Paso, TX – Sherman Helmley will finally be laid to rest after a dispute over his will prevented his body from being buried for four months.
A funeral is scheduled for this week in Texas as Sherman Helmsley will be laid to rest at last, USA Today reported. After his death this summer, a dispute over his estate prevented his burial.
Now that the dispute has apparently been resolved, the San Jose Funeral Home in El Paso announced that the actor will be laid to rest at noon on Wednesday at Cielo Vista Church. Helmsely’s burial will follow at Fort Bliss National Cemetery; he served in the Air Force before turning to acting.
Famous for his portrayal as George Jefferson on the television show The Jeffersons, Sherman Helmsley died July 24 of lung cancer. He was 74.
After his death, his half-brother from Philadelphia, Richard Thornton, challenged Helmsley’s will. The actor’s longtime friend, Flora Enchinton Bernal, had been named as his heir. After the will dispute, a judge in El Paso ruled that the will was valid and the funeral could go on.
His funeral was announced last week, with details emerging on Tuesday about the location.
Some people come out of the woodwork. “They think Sherman, they think money,” Hemsley’s sole-beneficiary Flora Enchinton told The Associated Press. “But the fact is that I did not know Sherman when he was in the limelight. I met them when they [Hemsley and Johnston] came running from Los Angeles with not one penny, when there was nothing but struggle.”
Sherman Helmsley’s funeral services will be open to the public.
