Woman's dying wish: A funeral flash mob to 'Another One Bites the Dust' - The Washington Post

Wood, 65, wanted her coffin brought successful late, due to the fact that she ne'er arrived to things connected time. She envisioned it colored purple and decorated with letters that read: “Going retired successful style.” She asked that the ceremonial celebrant curse arsenic overmuch arsenic possible.

And she wanted a troupe of dancers to clang her funeral, unannounced, and execute a routine to Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust.”

That’s precisely what happened Nov. 4 astatine a crematorium successful Bristol, England, erstwhile Ryalls and a radical of Wood’s friends managed to put a unsocial send-off that fulfilled her wildest requests.

Midway done the service, Queen’s celebrated bass enactment abruptly blared done the hallway and respective dancers stood up, shrugged disconnected their jackets and launched into a three-minute routine. Video of Wood’s ceremonial went viral connected societal media aft a BBC study this week captured the scene. Ryalls said it was everything her person would person wanted.

“She wanted america to retrieve her for the outrageous idiosyncratic she was,” Ryalls said.

Ryalls, who met Wood connected a pub-darts team, called her the beingness of the party. She recalled her person dressing successful agleam colors and telling animated stories from years spent moving arsenic a barmaid successful pubs crossed Bristol. Wood loved shoes and insisted her horse-drawn hearse and coffin beryllium decorated with a postulation of stilettos, wedges and studded boots.

“She was conscionable a monolithic character,” Ryalls said.

The creation mob that upstaged her ceremonial astir didn’t happen. Finding a creation squad to instrumentality connected Wood’s dying petition proved difficult, Ryalls said. She was turned down by 10 groups, immoderate of whom called the connection disrespectful. In desperation, she posted a petition connected Facebook.

When cabaret dancer Claire Phipps saw the post, she couldn’t judge her luck.

“All summertime I’d been chatting to radical astir truly wanting to bash a funeral,” Phipps told The Post. “But everyone looked astatine maine similar I was mad, similar that was ne'er going to happen.”

Phipps, who runs a Bristol creation troupe called the Flaming Feathers, said she was excited to instrumentality connected the challenge. After receiving Wood’s opus request, the group, which typically performs astatine cabarets and festivals, choreographed a regular and rehearsed for respective weeks.

Then they sneaked into Wood’s ceremonial up of the crowd to snag the close seats.

“It was nervus wracking,” Phipps said. “Because we didn’t cognize however it would beryllium taken.”

By the extremity of the song, to Phipps’s relief, radical were clapping and laughing.

Wood died of lingua crab successful September, 7 months aft her February diagnosis. She’d already been struggling with a hepatitis C infection, Ryalls said, aft being treated decades agone with contaminated humor by Britain’s National Health Service, portion of a nationalist ungraded that prompted a nationalist inquiry successful 2019.

Wood’s conflict with crab was painful, Ryalls said. But her consciousness of wit kept her going.

“She was dying,” Ryalls said. “And she would accidental that medicine is laughter.”

It was besides medicine for those closest to Wood. Mark Wood, Sandie’s husband, didn’t cognize astir her outlandish plans either, helium told The Post. At the funeral, helium was consumed by grief and couldn’t focus. Then the euphony started playing — Sandie’s music.

“I said, ‘Yeah, that’s my Sandie,’” Mark said. “There was a large grin connected my look due to the fact that that was her. She didn’t privation maine to cognize that due to the fact that she wanted to astonishment me. And boy, didn’t she bash it?”

The ceremonial lifted Mark Wood’s spirits. Sandie was “one successful a million,” helium said, and he’s inactive struggling to slumber since her death. He expressed vexation implicit the NHS ungraded that sickened Sandie. The British authorities announced in August that affected patients would person astir $122,000 successful compensation, but Mark Wood said helium wished the authorities would besides apologize.

But helium said Sandie got the send-off she deserved.

“If she’s up determination looking down, she’d beryllium smiling, ” Mark said.

Sandie asked that her loved ones end the ceremonial by exiting successful a conga line, Ryalls said, which everyone happily obliged. After the excitement, she had 1 last wish: that her ceremonial marque quality headlines astir the world.

“The past privation that we couldn’t execute has really happened,” Ryalls said. “It’s incredible.”