Man’s dead body sits in living room for 3 hours
ROCKY FACE, Ga. — On the morning of July 18, Arland Travis “Bud” Pevehouse’s family believes he started the day as he always did: wake up around 4 a.m., turn the TV on mute, try to read the actors’ lips and drink coffee. As was his custom on Tuesdays, he planned to go into town, so he walked out of his trailer to grab a couple of bags of the empty soda cans he collected. He then returned to his recliner and grabbed his oxygen tank.
By the time Rosa Lee, his wife of 21 years, emerged from the bedroom that morning, Pevehouse was dead. She called 911. She called her nephew. She called her stepson. Then, for the next three hours, she looked at her husband’s body.
Buddy Pevehouse said he was not surprised to hear of his father’s death. Bud was 84, with emphysema and heart problems. However, Buddy Pevehouse said, that morning was excruciating. For some reason, none of the authorities were able to remove his father’s body.
He said the deputies and paramedics on scene blamed the Walker County coroner, Dewayne Wilson. Wilson, in turn, blamed miscommunication. Either way, the Pevehouses said it shouldn’t have happened.
“My dad was disrespected,” Buddy Pevehouse said Monday. “I don’t want to see this done to another family.”
He said Rosa Lee called him that day around 9 a.m. She had come out of the bedroom, ready to ride into town with her husband. But, the oxygen still hooked up to his nose, Bud Pevehouse did not respond. Buddy Pevehouse then raced from his job at Unique Manufacturing to their home on Clement Road in the Villanow area.
Soon after, two paramedics and a couple of Walker County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived. So did some cousins, aunts and an uncle. After confirming that Bud Pevehouse was, in fact, dead, the paramedics helped Rosa Lee, who was hyperventilating.
However, the paramedics told the family they could not remove the body until someone from the coroner’s office arrived. Family members walked in and out of the house, trying to get some fresh air every once in a while. After two hours, the paramedics checked back in with dispatch. Buddy Pevehouse said they heard Wilson was on his way.
Workers from Wallis Wilbanks Funeral Home were waiting with everyone else. Another hour passed. Buddy Pevehouse stood next to his father.
Bud Pevehouse was born in Summerville, Ga. He moved out west as an adult, looking for work in California and Arizona. He served as an infantryman in Korea and moved back to Georgia after the war. He worked at the Kayo and Golden Gallon service stations. Later, he delivered newspapers for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
When he died, his family said he was leaning back in his recliner. His false teeth had fallen into his lap. He had slumped to the right, his head hanging over the chair. The skin on his face hung loose. Buddy Pevehouse asked if he could reposition his father, make him look more comfortable. Rosa Lee was crying.
He said the paramedics told him to wait for the coroner. Another hour passed.
“The vision of my dad being there, in that uncomfortable situation, with us not being allowed to touch him or adjust him, is a vision that will stay with me and my family,” Buddy Pevehouse said.
Finally, representatives from the funeral home took his father’s body away.
Asked about this event last week, Wilson said the body should not have remained in the house that long. But, he added, the problem was miscommunication — not his lack of attention.
Wilson said he was at Chester Frost Park in Hixson that morning, preparing to camp with his children, when a Walker County dispatcher contacted him. They said there was a dead body, but the paramedics and deputies on scene did not suspect foul play.
The dispatcher also told him the family wanted to use Wallis Wilbanks Funeral Home. Wilson said he called the owner and left a message with his wife. He said he gave the funeral home permission to take the body, but someone must have confused the message. (The owner from the funeral home did not return a call asking for clarification.)
“It aggravates the crap out of me that the family had to go through that,” he said, “when that’s the exact opposite of what I wanted to happen.”