Montreal widower can't afford to bury wife
Last Updated: Friday, November 13, 2009 | 6:06 PM ET
CBC News
Olga Birsu, in this undated photo, died of a heart attack in May. (Courtesy of Oneil Reid/CBC)A Montreal man who can't get immediate access to his dead wife's estate to pay for a complete funeral says he is heartbroken about having to keep her in a cemetery's cold storage facility until he finds the money to lay her to rest.
Oneil Reid, 50, is still visibly distraught about the death of his wife, Olga Birsu, 77, who died of a heart attack in May.
"She was my best, best friend," he told CBC News. "Just like I was to her, too."
After her death, Reid transferred Birsu's body to the Côte-des-Neiges funeral home where he hoped to hold her funeral, but he couldn't afford the $10,000 cost.
Eventually, funeral home officials said they had to transfer the body to the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery because they didn't have enough room to keep it.
So Birsu's body is still in cold storage at the sprawling cemetery, and Reid said he is growing more desperate about his options.
No will
The couple were together for 20 years and married in 2001. They lived in a condominium apartment that Birsu owned and informally bequeathed to her husband before her death — but because she didn't have a written will, Reid can't use the property as collateral to raise money for the funeral expenses until he settles the ownership.
"I know she was very sick and I know one day she gonna pass," Reid said. "But I didn't prepare myself properly and I blame myself for all the problem."
Reid said he tried to get emergency funeral funding from a Montreal social assistance office, but "they refused because they say she owns a condo and she has assets," he said.
"They're just things on paper, but they don't understand what really happened. I was just trying to do the right thing for her, and everywhere I was going, doors were closing on me."
Reid's notary, Suzanne Lamarre, said the only way he'll be formally recognized as the sole owner of his late wife's condominium is if he contacts her surviving sister, who lives in Romania, and asks her for permission to sell the property.
"When [Birsu] dies, automatically her sister owns 50 per cent of the condo" and Reid has to negotiate with her first, Lamarre said.
That process could take time because of geography and language barriers, Reid said. Birsu's sister doesn't speak English or French.
Oneil Reid says he blames himself for the problem. (CBC)
Reid said he has meagre personal savings as he hasn't worked in a decade because he was Birsu's full-time caregiver after she suffered a stroke in 1998.
The funeral home said it hopes to resolve the situation soon.
"If we need to pay the storage fees, we'll pay the storage fees, as long as we can get the poor woman buried," said Teresa DiPalma, a spokeswoman for the funeral home. "But who is going to pay for the rest?"
Reid has refused cremation, which is a more affordable option, DiPalma said. Reid said he rejected cremation because it is not what Birsu would have wanted.
