School Bus, Kobe Bryant, and a Courageous K-9: A Month of Custom Caskets

By now you’ve probably seen the incredible custom casket that paid tribute to Minnesota school bus driver Glen Davis. Images of the casket, which was a gift from his friend, funeral director Jim Hindt, have been shared across the globe for a couple of reasons. First, the hand painted casket is incredibly personalized to replicate the exact bus Davis drove for 55 years. Also, it’s the product of a beautifully-orchestrated collaboration among Hindt and Davis’ family members — a true labor of love.

But Davis’ one-of-a-kind casket is just one of at least three custom caskets that made the news this month. The other two, one a tribute to Kobe Bryant and the other to a police K-9 officer, come with equally touching stories.

Last school bus stop

When Glen Davis first heard of the possibility of a school bus casket, he was intrigued. At the time, his son-in-law owned a graphic design business, and suggested wrapping a casket in a school bus design.

Davis’ friend, funeral home owner Jim Hindt of Hindt Funeral Home in Grand Meadow, Minnesota, provided a casket for the project. Hindt told the Post Bulletin newspaper in 2015 that he wanted to do something to repay Davis’ kindness. When Hindt’s daughter was only 18 months old, she was diagnosed with cancer. Hindt said Davis and his family helped them through the crisis.

“We were going through a hard time,” Hindt told the Post Bulletin. “Both him and his family were just very good to us. I wanted to repay it somehow.”

As it turned out, the graphic wrap idea didn’t work out, so Hindt had the idea for a custom paint job for the casket. A friend painted the exterior “school bus yellow” and Hindt’s niece Andrea added the details. She handpainted a stop sign, the bus lights, the school system name, and the Davis’ bus number, #459.

Davis, who died on February 15, 2020, had the rare opportunity to see his casket five years before he would need it. In 2015, he told the Post Bulletin how much he loved it at first sight. “Oh, good gosh, I cried a few times,” Davis said. His daughter added, “He’s just so proud of it.”

Mamba out

On Monday, February 24, thousands of friends, celebrities, and fans gathered inside and outside of Staples Center in Los Angeles to pay tribute to the late Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna. Among those present was Fletcher Collins who drove 2300 miles from North Carolina to share a unique gift with the crowd.

Collins owns Glorious Custom Designs, a graphics business in Bladen County. He said a friend of Bryant’s father asked him to create a custom casket to honor the icon. Bryant, his daughter, and seven others died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California in January.

The casket is decorated is painted purple and gold and shaped to resemble Staples Center. It includes tons of detail paying tribute to Bryant and the other victims, including:

Skylines of Los Angeles and China, where Bryant played basketball, and his hometown of Philadelphia
His jersey numbers 8 and 24
Gianna’s jersey number 2
The number 9 for the number of victims of the crash
“Mamba Out” from his famous retirement speech
A replica of the Lakers basketball court
Five Larry O’Brien NBA Championship trophies (the same number of NBA title Bryant won)
Images of all nine victims

Collins said the project cost $13,000 and took him more than three days to complete. “I was so amazed. It’s always something special to that magnitude. I just feel the gift that God has given me to touch the hearts of many,” he told ABC News affiliate WWAY, adding that the opportunity to make it made him feel “humbled.”

Hondo was a hero

Funerals for line-of-duty deaths are always poignant. However, the February 29 service for an officer killed on February 13 in Salt Lake City, Utah was especially memorable.

The service honored seven-year-old Hondo, a K-9 officer for the Harriman City, Utah Police Department. Hondo, a Belgian Malinois, joined the department in 2015. He was shot in the sternum while assisting with a fugitive’s apprehension.

“PSD Hondo was a true warrior,” said HPD Police Chief Troy Carr during a February 14 press conference. “And his actions last night assured his loving friend and partner Ben would be able to return home to his wife, children and HPD family.”

The department asked Rawtin Garage to create the special casket for Hondo, one of their top K-9 team members. Rawtin, which usually specializes in custom painting on motorcycles and classic cars, hand-painted and airbrushed the design.