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Dave
Supporter
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Posted: Wed Jan 24th, 2007 10:25 am |
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They haven't done anything with her body yet? WTF???
Remains of mom who inspired movie at morgue for 2 months
GLENDORA - More than two months after the death of Florence "Rusty" Tullis, the real-life mother who inspired the 1985 movie "Mask," her body has still not been laid to rest, friends and family said.
The 70-year-old Glendora resident died Nov. 11 at Beverly Hospital in Montebello, due to infection and other conditions stemming from a motorcycle accident in Azusa on Oct. 14, said Los Angeles County Coroner's Office Capt. Ed Winter.
She had been recovering from two broken legs at Rio Hondo Convalescent Hospital before being moved to Beverly Hospital on Nov. 10 after complaining of stomach pain and other symptoms, Winter said.
Tullis' death, however, was not reported to the coroner's office until Jan. 8, nearly two months after her death, Winter said. Such a delay is highly unusual, he added. "We're supposed to get a call right away."
"I still don't have closure," said Tullis' niece, Helen Cunningham, adding the family has not yet received a satisfactory explanation of why Tullis' body remained at the Beverly Hospital morgue for so long without being reported to the coroner.
Beverly Hospital spokeswoman Belinda Williams said that while the hospital cannot comment on any specific case, citing federal patient privacy legislation, it is the hospital's procedure to notify the proper authorities, "as soon as humanly possible."
State law states the coroner is to investigate any deaths, "known or suspected as a resulting in whole or in part from or related to accident or injury either old or recent," and that any person who has charge of a person's body at the time of death from such circumstances must "immediately notify the coroner."
Cunningham said she had assumed the coroner had been notified, and was surprised in the weeks following the death of her aunt to learn the coroner had no record of the death.
The hospital called several times asking if arrangements had been made for Tullis' body, but would not provide Cunningham with a death certificate, she said.
"We were trying to get the doctor to either say he wouldn't sign it or sign it," said Gina Currie, a friend of Tullis for the past 14 years.
"He said he would sign it, but he never did," she said. "It's like they forgot a body there."
In the second week of January, the hospital informed the coroner about the death, and the body was brought to the coroner's office for an investigation, Winter said. An autopsy was completed Jan. 16.
The coroner's investigation is complete, and the family is now in the process of having Tullis cremated, per her wishes, Cunningham said.
http://www.sgvtribune.com/ci_5074034
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Redd
Supporter
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Posted: Fri Nov 17th, 2006 01:43 am |
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Randy in Pensacola wrote: I hope she finds the peace that she couldnt find in this life.
Same here Randy, seems like some people can never catch a break.
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Randy in Pensacola
Supporter
| Joined: | Wed Nov 3rd, 2004 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 861 |
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Posted: Tue Nov 14th, 2006 10:59 am |
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| I hope she finds the peace that she couldnt find in this life.
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Dave
Supporter
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Posted: Tue Nov 14th, 2006 10:08 am |
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'Mask' mom Tullis dies at age 70
Woman was portrayed by Cher in movie about her son
By Sandy Mazza and Phil Drake Staff Writers
Pasadena Star-News
Article Launched:11/13/2006 11:39:13 PM PST
Francais "Rusty" Tullis, the troubled mother portrayed by Cher in the 1985 movie "Mask," died Saturday, nearly a month after being injured in a motorcycle accident in Azusa. She was 70.
"She had a hard life, harder than others," her niece, Helen Cunningham, said Monday. "She had to climb her way up."
Tullis died at Beverly Hospital in Montebello, officials said.
On the morning of Oct. 14, Tullis drove her three-wheeled motorcycle into a utility pole near First Street and Cerritos Avenue in Azusa, said Azusa police Lt. John Momot.
"There was a witness who observed her veer off the intersection, off the road, and she struck the telephone pole," said Momot.
She was taken to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center by helicopter, he said.
Tullis suffered serious injuries, said her friend, Carol Vega, including two broken legs and a punctured lung.
From there she was moved to various area hospitals and rehabilitation facilities until she was rushed to Beverly Hospital with stomach pain, family members said.
Relatives and friends say they were told her last words were: "I can't, I can't do this anymore. I wish I could just let go."
She died soon after. Family members said they were told she died of an infection.
Friends and family members said they had no idea Tullis was hurt until they read a short story in the Oct. 16 San Gabriel Valley Tribune that reported an unidentified 70-year-old woman on a three-wheeled motorcycle had been in an accident.
"How many 70-year-old women do you know who ride around on a three-wheel motorcycle?" Cunningham, 48, of Glendora said. "I only know one and now she is gone."
Tullis, a psychic reader and former go-go dancer, had been living with Cunningham in Glendora at the time of her death.
Tullis was portrayed by Cher in the movie "Mask," which was about Tullis' son, Rocky Dennis. He was born with craniofacial disease, which made his head grow to twice its normal size. He died in 1978 at 16. Her other son, Joshua, died at 32 from AIDS.
Much like her character in the movie, Tullis faced troubles in real life.
In 1996, she was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to a meth possession charge.
"I spent my 60th birthday in Chowchilla \," she said in a 2001 newspaper interview.
In October 1999, she pleaded no contest to two drug charges. Earlier in the year, Azusa police had found methamphetamine and pipes used to smoke the drug in her mobile home. Her two-year prison sentence was changed to probation.
In May 2002, she was sentenced to 16 months in prison for admitting she violated probation on a drug charge.
"She was a very strong-willed person," said Vega, 58, her friend of 15 years. "Sometimes it was to her benefit and sometimes it wasn't."
Vega said Tullis liked to go to the bar Semag and Strops in Azusa, where she would sit at the bar and drink Screaming Orgasms and give psychic readings.
Cunningham said no services are planned for Tullis, adding Tullis wanted to donate her body to science or be cremated.
She reportedly had three failed marriages.
Survivors include Cunningham; sisters Dorothy Stuart of Glendora and Bonnie Meeker in Ohio; and several nieces and nephews.
"She was real tough," Cunningham said. "It is hard to explain her life."
http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_4654799
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