HOPEWELL, Va. — A Virginia funeral home is under investigation after a Hopewell man said it cremated his mother without him present, as agreed upon in their contract.
Dwayne Matthews's 71-year-old mother, Barbara Williams, died in his home on April 6.
Matthews decided to have his mother cremated at J.T. Morriss & Son Funeral Home in Hopewell.
There was an option in his contract with the facility to witness the cremation.
On April 10, he initialed that he wanted to be a witness.
A family member recorded him signing part of the contract.
"I wanted to view it. I wanted that closure,” explained Matthews. “The director assured me that ‘once you do this [initial the contract], we won't do anything else until all paperwork is done. We will contact you and schedule a time where everything is perfect for you.’ I was assured that I would get that. So I felt comfortable that I would get that.”
As Matthews was signing the witness portion of the contract, a funeral home employee can be heard saying, “You want to witness; on that line right here, print your name and your telephone number. This is the document that our technicians will contact you, and what they’ll do is they’ll call you.”
Matthews said he received a call from the funeral home on Monday, April 14, he assumed to schedule his mother’s cremation.
"He calls me and says, ‘Mr. Matthews, first and foremost, I want to tell you sorry for your loss,’ and I'm thinking, okay, this is personal, but he’s rechecking the boxes again, and he's empathetic," Matthews explained. "But then he goes, ‘Unfortunately, we cremated your mother yesterday, and nobody called you, and I had nothing to do with that.'"
"I was like, wait, wait a minute, what do you mean? We have a contract. I checked the box. I'm supposed to be there. That's what I wanted. That was my closure!” he continued.
Matthews said funeral staff offered him a discount on the crematory fees.
“In my mind, I have a picture of the contract, and I'm like, crematory fees? It was like $600, so you just offered me $300 for my memory. When's the last time you spent $300? So, I say, ‘Dude, I'm not thinking about money right now. Okay, okay, well, we can take that money and give it to her favorite charity,’” Matthews recalled.
The funeral home also offered Matthews a keychain with his mother’s fingerprint.
“What I told them was, I’m going to pick up her remains. We're not going to talk about money anymore. You're not going to give me half of anything. I want a note stating that this happened. We had a contract,” Matthews said.
Matthews received a letter from the funeral home that he says took 45 minutes to draft. In it, they apologized that he was unable to witness the beginning of his mother’s cremation.
"Forty-five minutes, I should have had a book, not two lines. That's not stating you're sorry,” said Matthews.
A study by the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) shows witnessing the start of a cremation is gaining popularity.
"Almost one-third of respondents (32.9%, up from 26.2% in 2023) said they would be either very interested or interested in witnessing the start of the cremation process, while 32.5% would not be interested at all."
How frequently does something like this happen?
Investigative Reporter Laura French asked retired NFDA President Randy Anderson.
"I think that it's very infrequent. I've not heard of many instances like this happening," said Anderson. “It's irreversible, so you want to be sure that it's all done right the first time."
Anderson said, while this was most likely an unfortunate oversight, one way to prevent it is for families to schedule arrangements the day they meet with funeral homes.
"It can happen, and to avoid that again, take all the precautions. Put notes on the containers, have the paperwork in place, and have people checking behind other people,” said Anderson.
"What do you think they should have done?" French asked Matthews.
“Honestly, double check. Triple check. There should be a form or checklist to state that everyone supposed to be in this room,” Matthews replied.
Matthews filed a complaint with the Virginia Department of Health Professions, and he was informed in a letter dated May 7 that an investigator was assigned to the case.
“Why are you speaking out?” French asked Matthews.
“It's wrong. It's a memory. I can't get that back,” said Matthews. “Mistakes happen, but that wasn't respectable at all.”
CBS 6 reached out to J.T. Morriss & Son Funeral Home in Hopewell. They provided us with the following statement:
“We express our sincere apologies to the Williams family. We understand that witnessing the start of their mother's cremation was important to them and deeply regret their expectations were not met. Despite our protocols that allow family members to witness their loved one’s cremation, the timing of Mrs. Williams’ cremation was the result of human error, which we profoundly regret. While we cannot give them back the opportunity to witness their mother's cremation, we are committed to working with the family to make amends.
“At J.T. Morriss & Son Funeral Home & Cremation Service, our mission is to provide exceptional service to our community with integrity, compassion, and dignity during some of life's most difficult moments. Since this occurrence, we have reviewed our internal procedures to ensure this does not occur again. Every family choosing to witness their loved one's cremation should have the opportunity to do so. Please know that we are committed to improvement and exceeding the expectations of the families we serve.
Regards,
Tolleison Morriss"
Under the Freedom of Information Act, CBS 6 requested inspection reports on the business, but they were exempt.
CBS 6 is committed to sharing community voices on this important topic. Email your thoughts to the CBS 6 Newsroom.
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