Thoughts on Patsy's physical legacy

This day, as I take on yet another set of tasks devoted to purging my habitat of items that are just clutter at this point, I wonder about Patsy's physical legacy, by which I mean the actual objects that she valued.

As we learned over the years, Patsy kept many of JonBenet's things. She kept the unwanted My Twinn doll, JonBenet's pageant clothing, an antique chair that JonBenet wanted her to buy on a whim. Now, Patsy is dead. So what will happen to these things? You can be certain that John does not value them one whit. He never wanted JonBenet to compete in the pageants just to show off the dresses that Patsy had bought. He had no sentimental attachment to the My Twinn doll. So many things of JonBenet's, and indeed of Patsy's, have no meaning to John. There is no need to hedge on the statement that John has no attachment to any of Patsy's trophies and pageant memorabilia that she won herself back in her has-been Miss West Virginia/Miss America days. John is not going to go out of his way to make sure he decorates this year's Christmas tree with the glass ornaments Patsy bought in West Virginia.

So, John has three options. He can give all or most of JonBenet's and Patsy's things away, but who among their friends and relatives would want ten or more pageant gowns and accessories for a five- and six-year-old, or a doll that was made for the sole purpose of looking like JonBenet? He can throw them in the garbage, and the dumpster divers will have a field day selling these things on Ebay. Or he can sell them himself.

Here is where I think things bear watching in the coming weeks and months. As we also know, John has no income. Goodness knows he moans about it enough. So do you think that we might see a spate of Ebay items show up under an account managed by one of John's or Patsy's friends or family members? It has to be very tempting to John indeed to cash in on items belonging to Patsy and JonBenet while the cashing is good, and if he can keep his own hands clean of the laundered money, so much the better from his perspective. What, after all, is his alternative other than to wear the pageant artifact chains that Patsy forged in her life?

Edited to add: I swear to you, if Patsy is not buried in a pageant gown and with several tiaras in her coffin, the hypocrisy of their decision to bury JonBenet with a gown and tiaras will be off the charts.

 

Now this is an interesting question.

Speaking of tacky...I can't iimagine John would risk being caught selling Patsy's things. For one thing, I don't believe for a minute John doesn't have money. He sure pulled 60K out of his pocket fast enough when he ran for office. I believe his golden parachute from AG was huge, millions, as they always are and LM is not in a bind for cash. I may be wrong, but I never bought that plea of poverty. John was still keeping his plane last I heard. What broke person keeps a private plane?

So there's that.

But surely her family has pondered this long and hard, since she's been in cancer treatments for so long. Being from the South myself, I believe they'd find it unthinkable to sell Patsy's things like some macabre yard sale. As you know, the tradition is to hand the "heirlooms" down to Burke, Melinda and her children, and JAR and his. Her sisters probably want some things for mementos of her. That's natural enough. Some of the things Patsy had that came from her mother and father might go to the sisters. That's always kinda' tricky, isn't it?

As for pageant stuff, you might have a point. JonBenet's gowns, as well as Patsy's, must be well-preserved to keep them from ruining after all this time. I think Pam might be the natural inheritor of those, as it was her interest, too, and she participated as well.

But Pam is not the wealthy one in the family, is she? If she needs money, who knows, in time, she might get the jamsy itch and sell some things. Why, jams might end up getting an "anonymous box" in the mail anyday....

 

Matching outfits

Why_Nut, I was thinking on the same lines today wondering if Patsy requested that she be buried in a pageant gown and tiara since she insisted so much in life that she and JonBenet always be dressed alike so why would she exclude that in death.

On the trinkets, remember there's still Polly and Pam to play caretaker to the trophies and such. I'm sure Pam will step up to the plate.

Although it wouldn't surprise me to see an item or two on ebay. Here's an idea, John could sell it all and donate the money to the JonBenet Ramsey Children's Foundation !! You remember, that foundation that was set up "to honor JonBenet's name." The one that offered a reward, offered a grant program, offered plans for an outreach program called SHOES that would advocate legislation to track pedophiles. Oh but that's right, Patsy was the president of the foundation and now she's gone. But then she didn't remember ever seeing any of the foundation books or records of any monies donated anyway.

Oh well, I guess it was the thought that counted.

ACR

 

You know, Why Nut, you have me thinking about something else about Patsy's funeral that puzzles me. Of course, I've seen families wait more than the usual three days for the service and burial, usually when members had to plan and travel to get to it. Sometimes when the death is sudden. But really, in her condition, the family should have been prepared and ready to go.

So...it makes me wonder...what's the hold up?

Perhaps they're hiring security. Perhaps they're setting things up so the press won't be invasive. Maybe Keenan is preparing for "the intruder" to show up.

Think of the efforts going on right now to take that high dollar tabloid shot of the body. The family.

Think of the money "someone" could make off of selling inside pics and info. Someone mentioned an "after the funeral" interview with John. Or Pam. Or another book from John.

One thing is for sure. If everyone just keeps to themselves and goes away, interest will quickly wane and that will be that. Without the orginal prime suspect around anymore, it's a done deal. No more windfall profits. I'd think that would be exactly what the family wants. John and Burke have a shot at some kind of normal life now. If they can shut up those left who have something to sell. If anyone left HAS anything to sell that would get any notice at this point. Which I doubt.

But you can bet your bottom dollar that "some people" will be there taking pics, trying to "hook up" for info they can sell before that window closes. Oh, yeah, it will be a real field day, I imagine.

 

Hey, ACR, don't forget that it paid for a couple of weeks of summer camp for a couple of kids! Once Patsy was forced to pay up when a reporter followed up on that "forgotten" donation, with a little help from Tricia on LKL (GUTTAH GODDESS that she is).

hahaha I just realized how ironic this is! It took A BORG to get the JB Foundation to actually BENEFIT kids. :yay:

 

Well, somebody's making money already. And it's original source seems to be that Hawaiian church where Patsy last spoke.

I saw a show tonight that shocked me. It was on late here, I'll have to look it up online. It was on ABC Network, perhaps Inside Addition?

It was a short series of video segments from that show Patsy did at Easter..."Connecting Point"? It showed her on a very large stage with an audience, talking while sitting down on a sofa with John, speaking to another man, the host, I assume. Then the video cut to her standing with John and the man on either side. She looked like she was leading the prayer. I believe it was her voice in the background.

There was a fairly close shot of her at one point on the couch. She was unrecognizable almost. I mean, her hair was different, short and quite gray. And her left eye was drooping. But she was the same Patsy, charming the crowd, quite lucid and talking about the "fun people" she loved who are "all on that side", meaning dead. She said something like it would be good to join them, then patted John and said sorry honey.

So...how this show got that video, I have no idea. Think the church just sold it to them, like anyone who orders a show from them? I looked on their website and I can't find it for sale, so...I have no answer on this.

 

Here's a link to the show, with a short summary, but the video teaser here of the other segments on tonight do not include the Patsy segment.

http://www.insideedition.com/#

Hang on, let me look at my vcr tape again. I was so surprised, I can't remember it all now.

 

OK, I got this all wrong. Let me revise upon second viewing.

Patsy has short light brown hair, maybe a wig again. Might have some streaking a bit. The quality of my picture is bad tonight, as this channel tends to get a lot of snow during bad weather. Sorry.

Apparently, this Hawaiian clip was "courtesy of Good Morning America" from today. So maybe others saw it. Guess ABC paid the big bucks for it, as they said this was Patsy's last appearance.

The first part of the segment excerpts shown begin with Patsy on the couch with John, talking to the pastor, I assume: Patsy says, "I'm going through cancer again...and I don't know how long I'll live."

The voice over says this is from 3 months ago on a Christian TV show in Hawaii (which we know). Excerpts appeared Monday on GMA.

Patsy again, gesturing: "...JonBenet and Beth and my mother, who has since passed away...n' you know...all the fun people are starting to be over there [she gestures away from herself and everyone laughs]...so it's going to be a glorious reunion...[to John] no offense, honey...." [eveyone laughs again]

She was dressed in a lovely suit, a very pretty pastel aqua fabric that had a sheen to it. She was thin. Her voice was a bit raspy, but not so much you couldn't understand her perfectly. She seemed fine, in terms of being her animated self, but somewhat slower speaking, with less energy of course. John never said a word in these segments.

But her face was a bit puffy and her left eye was drooping noticeably.

The last year took its toll on Patsy and John, that's clear. They both looked very different, much older than the people on LKL who were campaigning not so long ago.

 

OK, found a picture from that Hawaiian show on GMA's website. Go here and look for the picture down the right side of the page, near the top:

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/?CMP=google_bcast&partner=google&gclid=CIfRn6P45YUCFSV6GgodiSGhvA

That's Patsy in the light brown, short wig. I'm trying to bring the video up now, but it's so slow for me on dialup, I have no idea if I'll get to see it tonight. But some of you may be able to see it.

(I'm getting broadband!)

 

I strongly suspect that, for the first time in her adult life, Patsy finally had to abandon the hair dye, and this is her true hair color, which would be interesting because it would finally explain where JonBenet got her pre-pageants hair color from.

 

Thank you for posting this, KK. It is very obvious from this video that Patsy Ramsey wasn't doing as well as before. From previous videos, I would say Patsy looked much thinner here, and her voice was not as strong as usual. She did say she didn't know how long she would live, and even made a joke about all the fun people being there, and then apologized to John, laughing.
I thought she looked very frail.

I sawCharlie Brennan for the first time.

 

This is the photo from the video. Thank you Why_Nut. Patsy looks as if she has had quite a time of it recently with her illness. She was doing her best to hold it all together while on stage.

 

Man, death really did a number on her!

 

Whoa, as we say in New Jersey. She certainly was chipper. I have to absorb this. She's saying she's going to the fun side, and John says at the same conference that his best days are ahead of him? What's this, some kind of heavenly divorce? I am very confused.

LOVE her suit, though.

 

I think she was wearing a wig rather than it being her own hair.

What happened to her eye? It looks like someone who has suffered a stroke. Could it be possible the cancer traveled to her brain and caused her to have a stroke or other malady?

 

As to the topic of this thread, who do you think sold this thing to ABC? At that late date, John and Patsy wouldn't have allowed videotaping without reserving the sale and distribution rights. Also, their esteemed lawyer might need expenses for his work this month, and that money has to come from somewhere.

In Lin's announcement of the death, it says the family will not be doing any interviews before the funeral. After, we can expect some kind of media event from the guy who is now living his best days, I'd say.

Perhaps Patsy got herself together for this Hawaii trip to make a tabloid-free video appearance that then could be used on GMA. These people had to be planning how to manage the press as Patsy's fate became clear.