IN THE STREETS & ON THE WEB

Dead New Orleans Woman Sits At Her Funeral Holding Beer & A Cigarette

There are open caskets and then there’s in the case of Miriam Burbank.

It seems the New Orleans woman was so full of life that her two daughters wanted her to depart this world the way she lived in it, sitting in a living room setting with cigarette and beers while a disco ball flashes across her glossy lips and sunglasses.

Miriam, nicknamed Mae Mae by family and friends, looks just as if she is about to join the party and dance to the music
With a case of her favorite Busch beer and bottle of Glenlivet whiskey to hand, she holds a menthol cigarette and there is the faintest hint of a smile on the Saints fan's glossy lips.

She wears a smart black coat with bright yellow scarf, dressy earrings, her fingernails painted black and gold.

Burbank’s daughters wanted her funeral to reflect the woman she was, so they had funeral directors at Charbonnet Funeral Home created this still life, according to WGNO.

Burbank is not the first New Orleans resident to have an unusual dispatch.

In April, philanthropist and socialite Mickey Easterling was cast causally sitting on an iron bench with colorful dress and bright pink feather boa, a magnificent hat and a glass of champagne, reported WGNO.