If you've gotta go, that's the way to do it.
If you must have a funeral or memorial, I wish this was more common. I don't think this was inappropriate at all. I've been to too many funerals where people go into hysterics and fling themselves on the coffin of a person they treated like shit while they were alive. Many people, or maybe it's just my nutcase family, use the funeral to bring attention and sympathy to themselves. That's one reason why I don't want any memorial. The funeral should reflect the person being remembered -- not the desperate hysterics of a person who can't stand not being the center of attention, even at someone else's funeral.