Legal dispute over Ted Williams' frozen body on hold

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) _ Ted Williams' estate withdrew its request for a court to help resolve the dispute over his body, a victory for two children of the baseball great who want to keep it cryonically

Friday, August 9th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) _ Ted Williams' estate withdrew its request for a court to help resolve the dispute over his body, a victory for two children of the baseball great who want to keep it cryonically frozen.

The estate's executor, Al Cassidy, said in court papers Thursday he's convinced the Hall of Famer wanted to be frozen and that a judge's guidance was no longer necessary.

Williams' youngest children, John Henry and Claudia Williams, say they and their father signed a handwritten pact in November 2000 agreeing their bodies would be frozen.

Williams' eldest daughter, Bobby-Jo Williams Ferrell, believes her father wanted to be cremated and have his ashes scattered off the Florida coast, as he requested in his will.

``This puts an end to the proceeding that was pending,'' said Robert Goldman, the attorney for Henry and Williams.

But Ferrell's lawyer, Richard Fitzpatrick, said she ``will not let it end this way.''

``There are so many unanswered questions,'' said Fitzpatrick, who questions the authenticity of the handwritten pact.

Cassidy said he withdrew his petition because of the pact, a report by a handwriting expert attesting to its authenticity and an affidavit from Claudia Williams saying her father knew what he was doing when he signed the piece of paper. Williams was in the hospital to be fitted for a pacemaker when he signed the pact.

Williams' body was moved to a Scottsdale, Ariz., cryogenics lab shortly after his death on July 5.