Jun 6, 2007 8:42 pm US/Central
Flawed Version Of JFK'S Death Certificate For Sale
DALLAS (AP) ―
A document said to be the flawed original version of President John F. Kennedy's death certificate is up for sale, 43 years after a typo helped make it void.
Don McElroy, a funeral home worker who helped load Kennedy's casket into the hearse at Dallas Parkland Hospital, believes he has the only unaltered death certificate from the Nov. 22, 1963, assassination.
The document mistakenly lists Kennedy's address as "600 Pennsylvania Ave." -- not 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., better known as the White House. The certificate also omits Kennedy's Social Security number, another error that forced the certificate to be amended.
McElroy says he kept the flawed certificate after his boss tried throwing it out, and auctioneers now trying to sell the document put its worth between $80,000 and $120,000.
"I never thought it would be valuable," said McElroy, who now works for an East Texas funeral home in Tyler.
The Worldwide Group Auctioneers, based in Auburn, Ind., pulled the certificate from the Internet auction site eBay this week after not finding a buyer. John Lyons, a spokesman for Worldwide Group, said eBay was the "wrong venue" for the item and that the certificate will likely go to a live auction.
Gary Mack, curator of The Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas, believes the document is authentic.
"It's an interesting artifact," Mack said. "We'd be interested to have it in our collection."
McElroy, now 68, worked for the Vernon O'Neal Funeral Home, which provided the nearly $4,000 solid bronze casket that contained Kennedy's body on the flight back to Washington, D.C.
When the funeral home filed the death certificate to the Dallas Bureau of Vital Statistics on Dec. 11, 1963, McElroy said the agency noticed the mistakes and requested an amendment. His boss simply typed a new version and began to throw the original away. McElroy said he stopped him.
McElroy said he helped load Kennedy's casket into the hearse that transported the body and Jacqueline Kennedy from Parkland Hospital to Love Field, where Air Force One awaited.
The Worldwide Group Auctioneers is also trying to sell the hearse, which received a top bid of $910,000 at a Houston auction last month. That fell short of the $1 million asking price, but Lyons said the company is negotiating with potential buyers.
"A lot of Kennedy stuff is coming out of the woodwork as people are getting older and planning their estates," Lyons said.
(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
SLIDESHOW: JFK Assassination Retrospect
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