The planned wake of Cleveland boxing legend Jimmy Bivins was suddenly cancelled Monday.
Bivins, who died at the age of 92 on the Fourth of July, was scheduled to be laid out at the Lucas Funeral Home in Garfield Heights for a public viewing Monday and Tuesday. His funeral service was scheduled for Wednesday.
But at the last minute, a family member intervened and requested that the wake and funeral be put on hold, according to Clarence Lucas of the funeral home.
“These things happen from time to time,” Lucas told WKYC. “All we want to do is give Mr. Bivins the dignified wake and service he deserves.”
Bivins’ nephew, Frank Nelson of Oakwood Village, was upset by the decision of Bivins’ daughter to order a halt to the funeral plans. The daughter, Josette Banks, lives in Columbus, and Nelson, who was also Jimmy Bivins’ guardian, says she had not had contact with her father for more than 10 years.
It was from Banks’ house in Cleveland in 1998 that Bivins was rescued, when he was found living in the attic, nearly starved, and covered with filth and sores. Banks and her husband were charged with felonious assaut.
Charges against the daughter were later dropped when authorities determined that Banks’ husband Daryl was directing Bivins’ care, or lack of it. Daryl Banks was found guilty of a lesser felony charge of failing to provide for a functionally impaired person and was sentenced to 8 months in jail.
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article courtesy of Wkyc.com
