A young man's wish to remain standing in death has been fulfilled. Through a     special embalming treatment, Angel Pantoja Medina, left, remained upright in     a corner at his mother's home in San Juan, Puerto Rico, for his three-day     wake. Here, family members bid goodbye to the 24-year-old Monday.	"He wanted to be happy, standing," said Medina's brother, Carlos, right,      who's kissing his cheek. The owner of the funeral home that did the embalming      said Medina's mother asked him to fulfill her dead son's last wish.

Medina was dressed in a brown Yankees baseball cap, T-shirt, sunglasses, and a gold cross hung around his neck. He was found dead Friday underneath a bridge in San Juan and buried Monday. Police are still investigating the circumstances surrounding his death.

AP
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Aug. 19) - A Puerto Rican man has been granted his wish to remain standing — even in death. A funeral home used a special embalming treatment to keep the corpse of 24-year-old Angel Pantoja Medina standing upright for his three-day wake.

Dressed in a Yankees baseball cap and sunglasses, Pantoja was mourned by relatives while propped upright in his mother's living room.

His brother Carlos told the El Nuevo Dia newspaper the victim had long said he wanted to be upright for his own wake: "He wanted to be happy, standing."

The owner of the Marin Funeral Home, Damaris Marin, told The Associated Press the mother asked him to fulfill her dead son's last wish.

Medina was found dead Friday underneath a bridge in San Juan and buried Monday. Police are investigating.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.