It's a bit of a long read, but very interesting. Definitely makes you think about what your end-of-life wishes are.

 

 

The Spirit Of A Legend | ESPN | 63 years after Jim Thorpe's death, his sons still believe their father isn't at rest.

TL;DR

 

The gist of the story is that Jim Thorpe - born to two half-white, half-Native American parents on a Sac and Fox Nation reservation in Oklahoma - spent most of his later years in life living in poverty. He was baptized Catholic by his parents, and was eventually sent to the Carlisle Indian School in Carlisle, PA where he began a famed athletic career that included competing in college track & field, football, baseball, and lacrosse, Olympic gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon, and professional careers in football and baseball. He was married 3 times, and had 8 children during his first two marriages. Thorpe's first wife also had Native American heritage, and their children all identified themselves as Native Americans as well, including practicing traditional native American rituals. Thorpe reportedly made efforts throughout life to make sure to keep some sort of identification as a Native American.

 

Thorpe married his 3rd wife, Patsy, 8 years prior to his death, and she had very little contact with his children. Patsy and Thorpe had a rocky marriage, and were virtually penniless at the time of his death. As a result, his body was taken back to Oklahoma to be buried on the reservation where he was born. He first had a Catholic funeral, and then his body was dressed for the traditional burial rituals of his tribe. Half way through his Native American burial, Patsy busted in with police officers and took the body. She proceeded to travel around with his remains searching for a city willing to pay her for it in order to use it in a memorial. In the end, two small cities in eastern Pennsylvania (where Thorpe had never been in his life) decided to merge, pay Patsy Thorpe, and rename their merged city to "Jim Thorpe, PA". Thorpe's body is still buried in a memorial tomb there.

 

Thorpe's children have fought, unsuccessfully, to have their father's remains exhumed so among other things, Thorpe's burial ceremony could be completed and also so his body could be properly buried in accordance with Native American ritual.

Edited August 31, 201610 yr by Colonels_Wear_Blue

I read the whole article and wow, Patsy seemed like a piece of work.

Jim Thorpe was my first sports hero. His life story resonated with me as I have always had an affinity for Native Americans. It seems that everything came hard for him, except sports. His Olympic medals were taken from him because it was discovered he had at one time played semi pro baseball. They were restored posthumously. He died penniless. This story is really sad, especially because his body was taken away in the middle of his funeral, apparently, as a means to personal gain for his third wife.

 

I'm not sure the Thorpe family has a leg to stand on, legally since it was his widow who arranged for his burial in the PA location but it sure would be nice for the town to come to terms with the Thorpe children and allow them to bury his remains near where he was born and first lived with his tribe.

I remember reading that his last wife was really something. And not a good something.

Wow. That's awful.

"Jim Thorpe the Olympian was brought here, not Jim Thorpe the Native American."

 

Jim Thorpe, an Olympian he was, a Sac and Fox native son he will always be.