Burger King Drive-Thru Funeral: Family Gives Man One Last Whopper

Plenty claim to live by their lives by their own set of rules, but it's unlikely many do so with the same gusto as David Kime. The 88-year-old Pennsylvania man wanted to leave this world just as he enjoyed living his life, and his wish was granted: Kime's family planned his funeral procession route through the Burger King drive-thru just so he could have one last Whopper.

A World War II veteran who was awarded a Purple Heart, Kime passed away Jan. 20 at York Hospital from heart complications, according to the York Daily Record. A known fanatic for fast food, Kime loved Burger King's Whopper so much his family decided a final trip to restaurant was the perfect send-off for their loved one.

"He always lived by his own rules," said Linda Phiel, one of Kime's three daughters, to the Daily. "His version of eating healthy was the lettuce on the WHOPPER JR."

The funeral procession drove Kime's funeral car to the local Burger King drive-thru - his favorite, according to family - and his daughter ordered him one last Whopper. Phiel paid for her father's burger and placed the meal on his flower-laden casket in memoriam.

The family had to explain to others in the drive-thru that the funeral wasn't meant as some kind of sick joke, but was actually a fitting tribute to Kime, and was the best way they believed they could honor him, the Daily reported.

"All of us are going to be in this position ... And I think there's a certain group who think we should be crying. But on the other hand, he lived a wonderful life and on his own terms," his daughter said.

Phiel said she would often go with her father on his beloved fast food excursions, explaining, "He would take his Cadillac, which he loved, and drive up to Hanover and have a gut-buster ... If it wasn't the kind of day to drive out to Hanover, he would drive out to Wiener World on Memory Lane."

Kime's daughter described him as a loving man who did and ate what he wanted ever since her mother, Grace, died almost 25 years ago.

"My mother kind of kept him in check," Phiel said. "When she died, for a while, he would eat with us. But he considered us health freaks because we ate things that were green, like broccoli."

Roughly 5 feet tall, Kime was borderline diabetic for years, and even had a pacemaker. Phiel says she'd often told him if he'd adopting a healthier diet would make him live longer.

"He would say, 'I won't live longer, it will just seem like it because I'll be more miserable faster,'" Phiel said.

Eventually, though, Phiel gave up on giving her father health lectures.

"When you're 88 years old, I guess you've earned the right to do what you want to do," she said.

While Burger King manager Margert Hess admitted she didn't know Kime's name, she said she remembered him, and that he was a known presence at the location.

"It's nice to know he was a loyal customer up until the end -- the very end," Hess said.