By TERRY FRANK
Chautauqua Correspondent
7/3/2002

JAMESTOWN - It was the late Lucille Ball's wish that both she and her mother be buried together, and it just seemed natural to her children that her family all be together.

Less than a year after visiting Jamestown for the annual "Lucy's Birthday Celebration," the children of the city's most famous redhead have made good on a promise to have both their mother and maternal grandmother buried in their hometown.

Lucy-Desi Museum Director Ric Wyman said that Lucy's only request was to be laid to rest beside her mother.

"Lucille Ball's father is in Lake View Cemetery along with everyone else (in her family), so the family decided unanimously that this seemed to be the most appropriate thing to do. There is really no family out in Los Angeles," said Wyman.

With that, Lucy's children, Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr., began the process of transferring the cremated remains of Lucy and her mother, Desiree (DeDe) Eveline Hunt-Ball, from Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills to Jamestown.

"We have become quite attached to the people of Jamestown and the surrounding Chautauqua area in the past year, while creating the new, not-for-profit Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center to take over management of the Lucy-Desi Museum there," the two children said in a prepared release.

Ironically, Lucille Ball was to return to Jamestown for the first time in several years in 1989 to receive an honorary degree from Jamestown Community College. However, she died on April 26 -- just a few weeks before the scheduled event.

About a year later, Lucie Arnaz accepted her mother's honorary degree while in Jamestown for the first LucyFest, the forerunner to Lucy-Desi Days in late May.

In the statement, her children indicated that the remains of both their mother and grandmother will be interred in the "tree-shaded" Hunt-Ball family plot in Lake View Cemetery.

Lucie Arnaz added that their father, Desi Arnaz Sr., who died Dec. 2, 1986, was cremated and his remains scattered at sea in front of his home in Baja, Calif. A plaque lies at the base of the local church there.

7/2/2002

JAMESTOWN - The Lucy-Desi Museum has launched a new membership drive to bring its number of members to 1,000 by the end of this year.

The effort, according to Membership Coordinator Nan Eaker, is called "One Thousand by 2003." Eaker indicated the effort began with the museum's latest mailing of its Lucy-Desi News, a double-issue newsletter, last week.

For more information, call 716-484-0800.