Family Honors Angler’s Passing with Final Boat Ride
OutdoorHub Reporters 01.17.14
Instead of a traditional hearse, the family of 78-year-old Ronald Bloss Sr. transported his casket on his favorite fishing boat as a final tribute. According to the Associated Press, Bloss is remembered by those who knew him as an avid angler and outdoorsman. His body was taken from a funeral home in Mount Wolf, Pennsylvania to its final resting place in a Manchester cemetery.
“That’s what dad really wanted,” daughter Tina Rohrbaugh told The York Daily Record. “It was like him going fishing, going for that last ride.”
Rohrbaugh recalls her father talking about the idea when he heard about a ceremony involving a boat. At the time, Bloss thought it was an interesting theme. So when he passed away on Saturday after struggling with cancer, Rohrbaugh and her five brothers decided to put the idea to reality. One of her brothers drove the truck that towed the flat-bottom johnboat to the cemetery while the rest followed in solemn mourning.
Bloss, a Navy veteran, was buried with attendance by the Shiloh American Legion Honor Guard.
