Williams’ Daughter Drops Objections to Cryonic Storage

Ted Williams’ eldest daughter dropped her objections Friday to her siblings’ decision to have the Hall of Famer’s body frozen at a cryonics lab in Arizona.

Bobby-Jo Williams Ferrell relented after Circuit Judge Patricia Thomas agreed to allow a $645,000 trust to be distributed equally among Ferrell, half-brother John-Henry Williams and half-sister Claudia Williams.

Ferrell could not afford to continue the legal fight to have her father unfrozen and cremated. The suit would have cost $250,000 and she already had spent $87,000, said Ferrell’s husband, Mark, said.

“The financial cost of my struggle would be extraordinary and would result in significant difficulties for my family,” Ferrell said in a statement read by her husband over the telephone. “I’m at peace with the decision and I know that my father will understand.”

Added Mark Ferrell, “We were whipped.”

Ferrell had sued to have her father cremated and his ashes scattered in the ocean off Florida, as was specified in Williams’ 1996 will. Her siblings maintained they signed a pact with him in 2000 agreeing that their bodies would be frozen.

Shortly after Williams died at 83 of cardiac arrest, John-Henry had his father’s body moved to the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Arizona, where it was frozen. Cryonics supporters believe that bodies might one day be brought back to life, but most experts say that is highly unlikely.