Thursday, May 12, 2005 | 9:16 a.m.
The body of award-winning Las Vegas boxing writer Jack Welsh has not been claimed by family members, prompting a mortuary Wednesday to seek authorization to have him buried in an unmarked Clark County pauper's grave.
Welsh, who died April 25, might, however, be eligible for a free burial with a military grave marker at the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City if it can be proven by Clark County Social Services that Welsh indeed was a Marine veteran, as he long claimed.
Since Welsh's death, several obituaries have been written about his often colorful and at times destructive lifestyle. That no family member has come forward to claim his body punctuates his sad ending. His body was found on a couch in his modest Las Vegas apartment in front of his blaring TV set.
But what close friends thought they knew about Welsh has not all been accurate. For instance, a number of them insisted he was 80 years old, but Clark County Coroner records show Welsh was born on April 5, 1929, making him barely 76. The coroner's office said the official cause of death was a heart attack.
Jack William Welsh's terse death notice released Wednesday by Garden Memorial Funeral Home makes no mention of Welsh having served in the military, and a funeral home official says he was not aware Welsh was a veteran.
Veterans cemetery Superintendent Jack Porrino said Welsh did not make pre-arrangements to be buried there, but still is eligible for the free burial, which includes a service with military honors, if it can be proven he was a veteran in good standing upon completion of his military service.
Garden Memorial Funeral Director Robert Rupocinski said Wednesday his company has drafted a notice to Clark County Social Services, seeking an "abandoned body authorization," which will pave the way for Welsh to be cremated and buried in a county crypt, which is a pauper's grave.
If a Samaritan does not come forward to pay the mortuary's fees and arrange for private burial in a casket within 30 days after the county authorization is granted, Welsh will be cremated per county policy.
Porrino said that while the veterans cemetery buries ex-military members for free, it does not provide for preparation of the body. That, he said, is handled through a mortuary, which has to be paid for its services.
Garden Memorial wound up with Welsh's body because funeral homes in town take turns picking up bodies from the coroner's office, Rupocinski said.
While relatives of the dead are not required to use that funeral home for services, the practice often brings in some business to the mortuary that gets a body. However, when no one comes forward to claim a body, the funeral home requests taxpayer help to recover its costs for storage and proper disposal.
Rupocinski said a simple cremation from his company costs $785, not including a cremation plot or a headstone. Burial in a casket, he said, is more expensive.
Rupocinski said attempts were made to find relatives, who are believed to reside in Welsh's native Louisville, Ky., but none turned up.
If a Samaritan comes forward to claim Welsh's body, the receipt for payment of the funeral home expenses can be submitted to the federal government for a reimbursement of about $350, Porrino said.
Welsh, during a quarter of a century in Las Vegas, covered every major fighter from Muhammad Ali to Oscar De La Hoya. He worked for the weekly Sports Form and for its successor Gaming Today in Las Vegas.
Prior to that he worked for several East and Midwest dailies. In recent years, Welsh was an Internet boxing writer, but he lived primarily off his small monthly Social Security check.
His major writing awards included the United Press International Press Box Award for a feature on Ali's training to regain the world heavyweight title from Leon Spinks in 1978.
Longtime boxing writer Michael Katz, formerly of the New York Daily News, wrote in his Internet column, "There was nothing frivolous about Jack. Like, when he blew a job, he didn't do it half-way -- once passing out in the parking lot while (covering) a heavyweight title fight (for) the Philadelphia Journal.
"He could drink with both hands and still take notes. ... Funny thing, when he was able to write, even under the influence, he was clear as a bell."
After being fired from the Journal in 1979, Welsh quit drinking and moved to Las Vegas. Of that, Katz wrote: "Only Jack Welsh could give up drinking and move to a town where the bars never close."
archive
