Linda Phiel places a "Whopper Jr." sandwich from Burger King on the casket to be buried with her father David Kime, Jr. at Prospect Hill Cemetery in York, Pa. on Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. Phiel and other mourners went through the drive-through at Burger King and each got the hamburger to honor Kime, Jr. who loved fast food. (AP Photo/York Daily Record, Jason Plotkin)
YORK, Pennsylvania (AP) — Mourners at a U.S. fast-food fan’s funeral wanted him to have it his way, so they arranged for his hearse — and the rest of the procession — to make one last drive-thru visit before reaching the cemetery.
David Kime Jr. “lived by his own rules,” daughter Linda Phiel said. He considered the lettuce on a burger his version of healthy eating, she said.
To give him a whopper of a send-off Saturday, the funeral procession stopped at a Burger King in York, Pennsylvania, where each mourner got a sandwich for the road.
Kime got one last burger too, the York Daily Record reported. It was placed atop his flag-draped coffin at the cemetery.
Phiel said the display wasn’t a joke, rather a happy way of honoring her father and the things that brought him joy.
“He lived a wonderful life and on his own terms,” she said.
Kime, 88, a World War II veteran, died Jan. 20.
Restaurant manager Margaret Hess said she knew his face and his order. She and her crew made 40 burgers for the funeral procession.
“It’s nice to know he was a loyal customer up until the end — the very end,” she said.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
