Water Cooler

Now You, Too, Can Call Out The Dead In N.J.

Woman Puts Dead Husband's Cell Number On Headstone

PARAMUS, N.J. (CBS) ― It's something CBS 2 HD has never seen before, and you probably haven't either.

There's a headstone in a cemetery with more information on it than you'd think you'd need.

Tucked away in a cemetery in Paramus you will find the gravesite and headstone of 60-year-old, former Manhattan attorney John Jacobs, along with something else – his cell phone number.

"I wanted to have a way to remember him," said Marion Seltzer, John's wife of 21 years.

And after dialing the number, the phone service is still working.

"Hi, you've reached the voice mail of John Jacobs ... After you hear the beep leave a message and I'll return the call," is the message.

Of course that would be truly amazing ... since John's been gone since 2005.

"That's a little unusual," Seltzer said. "It is ... but so was my husband."

Seltzer says the phone on the stone was her idea, that it helps her stay close to John.

When asked if she still calls him, Seltzer said, "I call him now. I do call him. If I'm happy, if I'm sad...

"And I believe there are probably a lot of people who were very close to him who periodically call him."

Throughout his career as a criminal defense lawyer, the outgoing and larger-than-life Jacobs represented high-profile defendants such as mob boss "Fat Tony" Salerno.

Jacobs' cell phone constantly rings. It's inundated with calls, so Seltzer says why stop now?

"He would love this," she said. "He liked attention."

In the 2 ½ years since John died from pancreatic cancer Seltzer says she has no idea how many people have called him, or what they have said.

"I don't have his pin number ... I have no idea," she said. "I've never heard a message."

She says John was buried with his cell phone, the battery fully charged, of course, making Jacobs perhaps the only lawyer in the world who wanted to hear from his clients 24/7 … for all of eternity.

So once a month Seltzer pays the $60 cell phone bill and keeps her husband alive in her heart.

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