CRANBURY: Family fights to bury their father

By Maria Prato-Gaines, Staff Writer
   CRANBURY — Surrounded by loved ones, Harold St. John took his dying breaths at his daughter’s Cranbury home Feb. 28, succumbing to a year’s battle with pleural mesothelioma cancer.
   Now, nearly two weeks later, Mr. St. John’s grave site at the Holy Cross Burial Park in South Brunswick still remains empty while his body lies in wait at the David DeMarco funeral home in Monroe, said Debbie Eisenbrey, Mr. St. John’s daughter.
   It was mere minutes after her father’s funeral, she said, as his family was being ushered away in their cars, that Chrysler and Honeywell Corporation halted the burial due to a last-ditch effort by their attorneys to subpoena the body for further tests to determine a cause of death.
   ”We are fighters, and we will not let them get away with this,” Ms. Eisenbrey said. “We just want to bury my dad. He’s on my shoulder, saying, ‘Debbie don’t give up. Fight for what is right.’”
   Prior to his passing, Mr. St. John’s family was in the midst of a lawsuit with these corporate giants over his asbestos-related illness, which his family says is linked to the decade he spent in his father’s garage during the ‘50s and ‘60s, changing brake lines.
   ”He would do basically all the brakes and the transmissions,” Ms. Eisenbrey said. “My grandfather had a contract to do all the Jersey City taxis and cabs. There was a constant flow of cars.”
   Ms. Eisenbrey said the two companies were offered tissue samples months ago and “did not speak up,” and their most recent request for additional samples are irrelevant to the case.
   ”Both of them are asking for tissues of the lung,” Ms. Eisenbrey said. “My dad had pleural mesothelioma, which is in a separate organ (from the lung).”
   Mr. St. John was diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma in early 2008, she said, and proceeded to an attorney for a life-expectancy test where they were able to pinpoint a time and place where he may have been exposed to the asbestos.
   Ms. Eisenbrey said she didn’t give the lawsuit a second thought as she watched her once strong and virile father cut down from his former bigger-than-life demeanor.
   ”The pleural lining sits on all of your nerves,” she said. “He couldn’t lay down on his back or right side. He didn’t sleep in a bed. He slept in a dining room chair.”
   By his final days, the family could only hope their father and husband would soon find some peace.
   ”He had to be turned every two to four hours,” Ms. Eisenbrey said. “Every time he would scream out in agonizing pain. No food or liquid for two weeks — that’s how strong my father’s heart was.”
   But since Chrysler and Honeywell’s recent actions, the topic of the lawsuit once again has ignited for the St. John family.
   ”They knew the pain they put my dad through — my dad was in excruciating pain,” she said.
   The family is waiting for a recommendation from Middlesex County Superior Court Judge Phillip Paley, who is reviewing whether to lift the order to stop the burial or allow the autopsy against the family’s objections.
   The Appellate division then will review the recommendation and is expected to make a decision on the case sometime this week.
   ”The truly hardest part has been sitting in that courtroom and looking at the Chrysler and Honeywell attorneys,” Ms. Eisenbrey said. “They are sitting in that courtroom and talking about my father like he’s not a person. To us, it’s ripping our hearts out; to them, it’s just another court order.”

“Honeywell extends its condolences to the St. John family.  It is unfortunate that the hearing ordered by the court resulted in the delay of Mr. St. John’s burial.  We believe the evidence we are seeking is central to our case," said Victoria Ann Stretifeld.
 

  In the meantime, the St. John family has been planning for a private funeral, a second and final farewell to the cherished man they spent a lifetime loving.
   ”All my dad wanted was the gift of life and to be here with his children and his family,” Ms. Eisenbrey said. “He was a great and well-liked person with a great heart.”