Man, 78, taken to grave in motor boat
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MOUNT WOLF, Pa. (US) — A man who loved the outdoors was carried to his grave in a boat pulled by a truck on Wednesday.
The casket of 78-year-old Ronald Bloss Sr. was loaded onto a small motor boat and trailer and pulled to a cemetery by a pickup truck driven by one of his five sons, Diehl Funeral Home director Michael Gladfelter said.
Bloss, who lived in Mount Wolf, about 30 miles south of Harrisburg, the state capital, loved hunting, fishing and spending time on rivers, the York Daily Record reported. He had several boats, and family members came up with the idea of using one for his final journey, Gladfelter said.
Gladfelter said he doesn't recall the funeral home ever using a boat in place of a hearse before and he wishes there had been time to create a sign reading "Gone Fishing" to hang on the side of it.
"It would have been so ideal," Gladfelter said.
Bloss was a U.S. Navy veteran who also enjoyed coaching and umpiring. He died at his home on Saturday.
Pallbearers begin to lift the casket of Ronald "Manny" Bloss Sr., 78, from the flat-bottom jon boat that carried him from Diehl Funeral Home & Cremation Center in Mount Wolf to Manchester Union Cemetery on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2014 in Manchester, Pa. Bloss died Saturday, Jan. 11, of terminal cancer. Per his wishes, the outdoorsman and Korean War veteran made his final journey via his jon boat _ in his casket _ from the funeral home to his burial plot.
