Random Famous People Who Were Buried With Quirky and Heartwarming Mementos (15 items)

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  (#1) George H. W. Bush

  • 94

  During his time in office, President George H.W. Bush was known for his fondness of quirky, patterned socks - often of a sentimental value. After the former president passed away on November 30, 2018, Jim McGrath, his spokesperson, announced that he would be buried in an extra special pair of socks:

  The 41st President will be carried to his final rest wearing sock that pay tribute to his lifetime of service, starting as an 18-year-old naval aviator in war. That legacy is now being carried, in part, by the brave, selfless men and women abroad.
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  (#9) Leonard Bernstein

  • Dec. at 72 (1918-1990)

  Leonard Bernstein, one of the most beloved and respected US composers and conductors, led the New York Philharmonic from 1958 to 1969. One of his professional heroes was a composer who held his position from 1909 to 1911: Gustav Mahler. According to The New York Times, Bernstein "strongly identified with Mahler," and was even known to say "I am Mahler" (though it was not meant literally).

  When Bernstein passed in 1990, he was buried with a copy of Mahler's Fifth Symphony over his heart.
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  (#4) Roald Dahl

  • Died at 74 (1916-1990)

  Beloved children's writer Roald Dahl, the author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, and others, wrote many of his stories in a garden shed on his property, and always with his favorite tool: an HB pencil.

  Dahl loved those pencils so much he was buried with a few of them, along with a collection of his favorite things, including a snooker cue (snooker is a popular British billiard game), red wine, chocolate, and a power saw.
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  (#10) Harry Houdini

  • Dec. at 52 (1874-1926)

  World-famous magician Harry Houdini (born Erik Weiss) had a very specific request for how he should be buried. One of his more well-known performances involved Houdini being sealed in an air-tight bronze coffin. He wanted to prove that as long as he wasn't panicking, he could survive inside the coffin for an hour.

  He was laid to rest in that same coffin in 1926. Reportedly, beneath his head was a stack of letters from his mother, Cecilia, with whom he had a very close relationship until she departed in 1913.
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  (#12) Bob Marley

  • Dec. at 36 (1945-1981)

  Jamaican singer Bob Marley wasn't just an international icon in the music world. He was also a spiritual figure known for promoting peace.

  Marley became the face of reggae music worldwide, so it makes sense he was buried with a few of the items that helped define his life: a Bible, his Gibson Les Paul guitar, and cannabis.
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  (#14) Alexander McQueen

  • Dec. at 41 (1969-2010)

  When British fashion designer Alexander McQueen died by suicide in 2010 at age 40, some speculated it stemmed from depression over his mother's passing a year earlier, or his loss of magazine fashion director Isabella Blow three years prior - she was credited with discovering McQueen. 

  A day before Blow's funeral in 2007, McQueen asked famed milliner Philip Treacy, who was friends with and made hats for Blow, if he could have a lock of her hair, and Treacy obliged. McQueen gave the hair to his friend Shaun Leane, a jewelry maker, who made a ring for McQueen with some of the hair encased in glass. At McQueen's London funeral in 2010, Leane placed the rest of the hair in his coffin along with a letter. Leane told The New York Times:

  See, everyone wants to blame other things. They want it to be so rock ’n’ roll and to say it was because of this or that. But he was such a sensitive boy.

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