Jo Whiley has opened up on the "amazing send off" her "legend" of a father received at his funeral - which was "unconventional" and heart-warming in equal measure.
Jo’s father, Martin Whiley, passed away on July 21 at the age of 86 following a battle with Parkinson's disease, and Jo has candidly shared her experience throughout his illness and dealing with the grief on Dig It, the popular podcast she hosts with friend Zoe Ball.
In a recent episode, Jo shared an update about his funeral, including the touching way her sister said goodbye, and how she left the entire church falling about laughing with the "comic timing" she inherited from their late father.
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Jo shared, "It was never going to be conventional because of my dad and because of Frances. I knew that Frances wouldn't sit in her pew, that Francis would want to go and be involved in this.
"And sure enough, she just kind of plonked herself right at the foot of the coffin. And there's a picture of dad there as well. So you've got the flowers, sunflowers, then a gorgeous picture of my dad who's actually watching Elbow on stage. So there's this photograph of him and he is beaming because it's his favourite band in the world.
"And Frances just kind of straightened up the picture and she looked at dad and she just leant on the end of the coffin for such a long time while the vicar was talking. And she was just talking and looking at dad while the whole service went on.
"After a little while, she went and sat on a chair again, right in front. It just set the tone of this unconventional funeral."
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Jo’s sister, Frances, has Cri du chat syndrome, a rare genetic disorder. On a previous episode of the podcast, Jo talked about how she was dealing with losing her father, and how the family were able to explain it to her.
She shared, "Frances has been extraordinary, and she completely understands what is going on", adding that the family weren’t sugar-coating the reality they were facing.
She explained that they told her, "'Well, [their dad] is not going to come home'. And she kind of pauses and she's like, ‘OK, where is he going?’ And my mum is a really, really devout Christian, and she says, ‘Well, he's going to Jesus, and that's where we all go.'"
Frances was also able to help lighten the mood during the service, Jo revealed, with an impromptu comment that left everyone in stitches.
Jo shared, "My dad was a comic, and Frances has inherited that from him. So there was this really good friend of my dad who did a lovely tribute. He took a pause. And as he took a pause, Frances just went, ‘Finished yet?’ Really loudly. And the whole church just fell about laughing."
In a post on her social media, Jo also added that the family celebrated afterwards with a karaoke night in honour of Martin.
Accompanying a moving set of photos, Jo wrote, 'It seemed only fitting that after the funeral we celebrated him with songs all night long. He would have loved seeing his grandchildren step up and kick things off with Elbow’s One Day Like This followed by the song he sang at every opportunity - Sweet Caroline.
'All day long, people hugged each other and cried and laughed and sang through their tears - it felt very much like he was with us throughout.'
