Family opposes sending body for cryogenic preservation

The frozen remains of a 71-year-old Colorado Springs woman will remain packed in dry ice for 72 hours while her family decides whether to appeal a magistrate’s decision to turn her body over to an Arizona non-profit for cryogenic preservation.  El Paso County Magistrate Barbara L. Hughes ruled today that Mary Robbins’ last will and testament directs that her body be turned over to the Alcor Life Extension Foundation of Scottsdale, AZ.  Her daughter Darlene Robbins of Pueblo had contested the will, stating that her mother changed her mind about cryogenics while suffering terrible pain from terminal cancer a few days before her Feb. 9 death.  Hughes granted a 72-hour stay of her ruling to allow Robbins to take the case to the Colorado Court of Appeals.  “All I can say is that we’re disappointed,” lawyer Robert Scranton said as he and Darlene Robbins left El Paso County Probate Court after Hughes announced her decision.  Mike Robbins, grandson of Mary Robbins, called the ruling, “tragic.”  Eric Bentley, a lawyer for Alcor, welcomed the decision.  “We are very pleased that the written desires of Ms. Robbins will be fulfilled,” he stated in a prepared release handed out immediately after the ruling.

Full story:  http://www.gazette.com/articles/springs-94927-arizona-court.html