Rita MacNeil’s family gets chuckle at singer’s last wish: to rest in a teapot

by The Canadian Press on Monday, April 22, 2013
BIG POND, N.S. – Wade Langham was making funeral arrangements for his mother, Rita MacNeil, last week when a handwritten note unexpectedly tumbled out of the beloved singer-songwriter’s will.
Turns out that MacNeil, who ran a tea room in her Cape Breton hometown until her death, wanted to leave her two grown children with a simple set of burial instructions — and one last chuckle.
“Upon my death, I would want to be cremated immediately, my ashes to be placed in my tea room teapot. Two, if necessary,” the light-hearted letter began.
On Monday, relatives, friends and fans packed a small Roman Catholic church overlooking Cape Breton’s Bras d’Or Lakes where — as per her wishes — MacNeil’s cremated remains sat in a white teapot alongside one of her many hats and a portrait of her...Continue reading...