Actor Sherman Hemsley passed away more than a month ago, but his body remains unburied.
Hemsley, best known as the wisecracking George Jefferson on the hit television series, “The Jeffersons,” has become the subject of a financial dispute between Hemsley’s longtime partner, Flora Enchinton and a Philadelphia man claiming to be Hemsley’s brother.
Hemsley signed his last will and testament on June 13, 2012, a month after he was diagnosed with cancer, naming Enchinton as executor and leaving his entire estate to her, according to court papers. But a man by the name of Richard Thornton says he is Hemsley’s brother and has petitioned for custody of his remains and possessions.
Enchinton, who lived with Hemsley at his El Paso home for the past decade, says the dispute has given her a “very ugly feeling, very desperate feeling that I feel inside.” She added “I have never heard of a so-called brother named of Richard Thornton in the 20 years I have known Sherman. This is not what Sherman would have wanted.”
Hemsley’s embalmed remains are being kept in a refrigerator at the San Jose Funeral Home in El Paso awaiting a court order allowing burial or with instructions on who should be given the body.
