Sandra West

Sandra Ilene West (January 2, 1939 – March 10, 1977), was a Beverly Hills socialite and Texas oil heiress. Her unusual burial request required that her brother-in-law, Sol West, have her buried in her 1964 powder blue Ferrari 330 America. She was to be wearing specific attire (a "lacy nightgown") and the seat in which she was placed was to be reclined at a "comfortable" angle.^[1]

Will and burial

West (known by her middle name of Ilene) left an estate of approximately $3 million. West's handwritten will was executed under Californian state law, her legal residence at the time; she died in Los Angeles, California. The will provided that Sol West (brother of her late husband Ike West, Jr.) would receive $2,000,000 if the wishes were carried out; if not, he would get $10,000.^[2] After going to court to try to get out of it, which required a two-month temporary burial, Sol West was obliged to bury his sister-in-law in her car. The car and Ilene West were encased in a box measuring 6 by 8 by 17 feet, which was hauled to the grave site on a flatbed truck; after burial, a concrete mixing truck, which had been standing by, poured concrete over and around the box. The car and Ilene West are in a nine-foot-deep hole filled with car, concrete, and container in Alamo Masonic Cemetery at San Antonio, Texas.^[3] The simple grave marker does not give a clue to what is underneath.

Family

West's husband, Ike West Jr., (1934–1968) predeceased her by nine years. Husband and wife are now side by side in section 1-2 of the cemetery.^[4]^[5]

References

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