Williams' daughter opposes frozen DNA

BOSTON -- The Boston Red Sox announced plans Sunday for a celebration of Ted Williams' life even as his family fought over what to do with his remains.

Bobby Jo Ferrell, Williams' daughter from his first wife, said she will seek a court injunction today to stop her half brother, John Henry Williams, from trying to have their father's body or DNA frozen.

"I will rescue my father's body," she told The Associated Press late Saturday night. "Me and my attorney are working on that."

Williams, the last major league hitter to bat better than .400, died Friday at the age of 83 in a hospital near his home in west-central Florida. According to his wishes, no funeral will be held.

The Red Sox confirmed Sunday that a memorial service would be held on July 22 at Fenway Park. Fans will be able to attend for free in the afternoon and in a ticketed event that night, with the proceeds going to Williams' favorite charity, The Jimmy Fund.

No other details of the event were available, but the team said it was expected to include guests from the baseball world.

Ferrell did not return a call seeking comment on Sunday. But she told the AP on Saturday that a "very important person" at Hooper's Funeral Home in Inverness, Fla., said that her father's body had been moved to Scottsdale, Ariz., on Friday.

She would not identify the person.

"My father's body was put on a plane yesterday with people from Alcor," she said, referring to Alcor Life Extension Foundation, a cryonics company. "I'm imagining they were trying to keep it quiet."

A spokeswoman for Alcor said the company has a policy against commenting on "patients."

John Henry Williams has not returned repeated calls seeking comment. Ted Williams' attorney, Eric Abel, did not return a phone call from the AP seeking comment on Sunday but had previously refused to confirm or deny that cryogenics was a possibility.

Dwight Hooper, vice president of the funeral home, has declined to comment on whether the body was still at the funeral home because the family has requested privacy.

Ferrell said her brother brought up the idea of freezing their father, or a part of it, after his health took a turn for the worse last year. She told him he was against it, and on Saturday she called it immoral and not what her father would have wanted.