CREMATION OPTIONS

On a picture perfect day tens of thousands of people descended upon the nation’s Capitol to pay their respects to “the greatest generation” and to witness the dedication of the World War II Memorial some 59 years after the treaties were signed ending the battles that claimed more than 400,000 American lives. The 7. 4 acre site on the National Mall between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial has been some 17 years in the making. With 1940’s swing music playing, guests started arriving just after dawn for the 2 p. m. event. On hand to witness President Bush dedicate the memorial were two former U. S. presidents, past and present members of Congress, and what has been called the largest gathering of World War II veterans since 1945. Organizers said that 117,000 tickets had been distributed with veterans accounting for about 60 percent of the total. Thousands more watched the ceremony on large screens along the mall. Also in attendance were a number of officers and members of the National Funeral Directors Association which wage an aggressive fund raising campaign to help make the monument a reality. NFDA raised nearly $3 million for the project which makes the association the second highest non-corporate donor behind only the Veterans of Foreign wars. “I am very proud of the NFDA members across the country who embraced this cause and helped to raise nearly $3 million through grassroots efforts in their communities through NFDA’s Celebration of Freedom campaign,” said Christine Pepper, NFDA chief executive officer. “Funeral directors probably more than any group, recognize the importance of memorializing. The WWII Memorial is a lasting tribute to the men and women of honor who served and fought for our freedom. “One of the most memorable experiences for NFDA President Mark Musgrove was at a reception the previous night. “I sat at a table with two congressional medal of honor winners. “Musgrove asked the man if he was comfortable talking about having received his medal. The man told Musgrove that he was in France his platoon was a hill and the Germans stormed the hill eight times over 36 hours-most of his platoon was killed. He was wounded three times. “Listening to him remember that. . . then Bob Dole got up and spoke and they played the “National Anthem” and “God Bless America,” standing there was something I will never forget. “It’s a shame that all funeral directors couldn’t actually be there,” said Mark Musgrove, president of NFDA. “It was truly a moving experience. We sat in an audience of 130,000 veterans and sharing their memories with them was very special and I’ll remember it the rest of my life. “NFDA past President John C. Carmon said this cause was especially significant to funeral directors. “For years funeral directors have learned a great deal from the veterans and their families they have served,” he said. “Dedication, sacrifice and commitment in particular. We have been in a unique position to understand how their war experience has affected their lives and their families. Working on the Memorial has been a privilege and honor to help a nation remember these sacrifices and a greater honor for an organization that was able to unify behind such a great national cause and accomplish such a unselfish goal. Personally seeing the tears well in the eyes of sons and daughters whose veteran fathers had died and knowing that we were remembering and honoring them has made every bit of this effort worthwhile. “Former president Robert Vandenbergh expressed his wish that all members of NFDA who helped in the fundraising effort could have been on hand. He added that the dedication had a personal significance. “My father-in-law served the U. S. Army in the jungles of New Guinea for three and a half years, and he was not even a U. S. citizen,” Vandenbergh said. “It was a small way of saying thank you to him and all the others who served so that we can live as we do today. As I sat there during the ceremony I thought about all of the WWII veterans whose services I have conducted over the years and wished they could see and feel the pride of their comrades who were there that day. It was truly a moving experience to be in Washington for the event.

Acknowledge a Debt

“At this place at this memorial we acknowledge a debt of long standing to an entire generation of Americans-those who died, those who fought and worked and grieved and went on,” said Bush with his father former President George H. W. Bush who was a decorated navy pilot and former President Bill Clinton seated on the dais behind him. “We will raise the American flag over a monument that will stand as long as America itself,” Bush said calling the monument “a fitting tribute. “The ceremony included a moment of silence for those U. S. service members killed in the war. Some 16 million Americans served in the war. The 90 minute ceremony also featured actor Tom Hanks star of “Saving Private Ryan,” and NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw who has authored books focusing on “The Greatest Generation. “Other speakers included former senator Robert J. Dole who led the $175 million memorial’s private fundraising drive. “What we dedicate today is not a memorial to war,” said Dole who was severely wounded as an Army Lieutenant serving in Italy. “Rather it is a tribute to the physical and moral courage that makes heroes out of farm and city boys, that inspires Americans of every generation to lay down their lives for people they’ll never meet. ” Only about 4 million veterans are still alive but they are now dying at the rate of about 1,100 a day according to estimates by the Department of Veterans Affairs. The idea for the memorial was first put forth in 1987 by Roger Durban an Army tank mechanic in the war from Berkey, Ohio. He took his idea to Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio who fought for six years to get Congress to authorize the memorial. Durbin died in 2000 but Kaptur and Durbin’s daughter participated in the ceremony.

If you or a family member have any further questions or concerns with respect to cremation, cremation services, cremation costs or a direct cremation please feel free to contact Cremation Options toll free 24 hours daily at 1-877-989-9090.

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Cremation Options & the Medical examiners and coroners focus on the grim task of collecting and attempting to identify numerous caskets and burial vaults that were uprooted out of area cemeteries from the hurricane’s storm surge. On Monday, August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, making one of the worst natural disasters in U. S. history. The category 4 storm killed over 1,000 people, making it the deadliest since the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, which claimed between 6,000 and 8,000 lives. Hurricane Katrina devastated a wide territory, from Mobile, Ala. , to New Orleans, La. , with fierce winds and high storm surges. In New Orleans, which sits below sea level, the situation worsened after Katrina left town. On August 30, the levee system that protects the city of 450,000 from the water of Lake Pontchartrain was breached, resulting in heavy flooding. Draining the city would take months. U. S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff described the situation as “probably the worst catastrophe, or set of catastrophes” in our country’s history. More than 1 million people were displaced from their homes, and millions more lost power. Just when they thought the worst was over, another unwelcome visitor showed up on the gulf’s doorstep, a lady named Rita. The storm tattered Gulf Coast took yet another direct hit from a powerful hurricane when Hurricane Rita made landfall in Southwestern Louisiana during the early morning of September 24 with winds approaching 120 miles an hour. Heavy damage and flooding were reported in Cameron Parish, La. , where the hurricane’s eye came ashore with a 20 foot storm surge around 3:30 a. m. EDT. The Western border of Cameron Parish is on the Texas Louisiana boundary. After striking Cameron Parish, Rita’s eye moved northwest into Texas and eventually dissipated. As the counting of the dead from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita finally slowed to a trickle in the Southern states of Louisiana and Mississippi, not only did the authorities have to deal with the on-going collection, handling and identification of those who died during the Hurricanes, but state and local medical examiners and coroners are now focusing on the grim task of collecting and attempting to identify numerous caskets and burial vaults what were uprooted out of area cemeteries from the storm surge of the hurricanes. “I’ve had caskets in the tops of trees that I’ve had to take out with backhoes. I’ve had caskets in people’s living rooms,” Louisiana Parish Councilman Mike Mudge told Reuters. Of the 15 cemeteries in his rural Parish, south of New Orleans, most were ripped apart by Katrina’s wall on the 17th street canal was breached by the storm surge. Neither the living nor the dead escaped the effects of Hurricane Katrina. At Metairie Cemetery, a burial spot of many of the area’s famous sons and daughters, the water line was observed as being several feet high on some of the mausoleums and tombs as the cemetery was under water for several weeks from the flooding caused by the break in the 17th street canal levee. In Biloxi, Miss. , at least 50 caskets were displaced from Southern Memorial Park and another 10 or so that were disinterred at Live Oaks Cemetery in Pass Christian were Hurricane Rita made landfall in late September, less than 30 days after Katrina. Cemetery vaults lay broken open as a result of the normal high ground water level combined with the flooding waters of the storm. Of about 60 cemeteries in Vermillion Parish in Southwestern Louisiana, about a dozen were missing approximately 20 vaults or caskets. At Big Woods Cemetery in Vinton, rain continues to trickle down into vaults, left cracked open by Hurricane Rita. Groundkeeper Edward Richard said, “We have a lot of graves damaged. I took rough count of 35 vault lids that area crushed. A lot of the caskets are showing. A lot of the family members are real concerned about it. ” All in all, storm surges from the two hurricanes disinterred about 1,300 sets of remains over the entire area. DMORT estimates 90 percent of those have been found. For those of us unfamiliar with the normal burial rites in this Southern area, ground burials, when possible, are typically shallowly interred only a few feet below ground utilizing a heavy concrete vault which is then pressed into the ground so that a portion remains above ground. This ritual is primarily due to the high water table, poor soil conditions and low ground elevation of the area, making digging a typical 8 foot deep earth grave impossible. When the water forces of the hurricanes attacked the cemeteries, it was very easy for these ground interred caskets and vaults to surface and literally float away. Caskets were reported to have been found as far as several miles away from any known cemetery and mostly not found until well after the flood waters receded. It is also believed that some may never be located and are feared lost in the Gulf of Mexico. In some of the older, less frequented cemeteries, a lot of the above ground burial tombs were already in poor condition because of neglect and age, and obviously sitting in standing water as a result of the storms accelerated further deterioration of the tombs. Few of those interred in metal caskets within the last few centuries had information inside the caskets that helped identify the remains. Others, particularly the very old caskets, did not. As one could imagine, the wooden and cloth covered minimal caskets did not survive well. In the majority of those caskets and vaults disinterred by the forces of Hurricane’s Katrina and Rita, little bore any sort of permanent identification markings on their exterior which would have permitted easy identification of where the casket or vault was purchased, manufactured or finally interred without further interior inspection. DMORT teams had to rely on their painstaking efforts of using photography, dental and full body x-rays, finger printing, DNA collection and visual examination of the deceased and the casket contents for any signs of personal effects that could link the deceased to a family. Most caskets recovered were not able to be reinterred due to the damage from the water or storm and were properly disposed of after being decontaminated. The remains were re-casketed with a new 18 gauge metal casket supplied by the government. Most of the forensic work to identify the unknown victims has been through dental records. There is no longer any doubt that there is now a growing need for casket manufacturers to begin looking at adding some sort of permanent, traceable serial number on the exterior of their caskets in a non conspicuous location. A 1995 attempt at passing a law in the state of Georgia would have mandated all funeral directors to “require that all caskets used for interment appropriately identify the remains of the deceased with the name and social security number of the deceased being affixed to the casket. ” However, House Bill 75 never made it to a vote before being repealed. As is the case with most casket manufacturers, individual serial numbers are included on stickers inside the lid. Even though the serial number sticker is able to be tracked from the factory to the funeral home where the casket was sold, it is not indelible. However, about 95 percent of the caskets manufactured by Batesville Casket Company do in clued the “Memorial Record System,” a tube that screws into the casket where an official record of the deceased may be placed. The idea, patented by Batesville in 1954 originally as a means of identifying the deceased contained within the casket, also allows consumers to enclose parting thoughts or mementos to be buried with the deceased. “The idea of Batesville affixing a permanent, stamped serial number on our caskets as a means of identification in the event of a disinterment just hasn’t been asked for yet,” said Joe Weigel, director of public relations. “It’s not beyond happening and if enough of our customers came forward we would certainly look at it. ” Some casketed remains from Katrina and Rita were fortunate to contain a bracelet or morgue identification tag still affixed to an extremity which was of great assistance in aiding in identification. It was unbelievable to find a compromised casket that had been interred for several decades still bore a readable hospital or nursing home identification bracelet with the deceased’s name on it. Some funeral directors routinely remove these bands during embalming and save them to ensure that they have taken proper custody of the correct body from a hospital or nursing home long after burial or cremation. If more funeral directors had left these id bracelets on the remains more would have been identified early on. In most parishes, the casket disinterment project is being tackled by the Federal DMORT group under the careful eye of the local and state medical examiner and coroner officials who are legally charged with the task of returning the displaced to their original resting place. A team of approximately 150 workers at a new DMORT morgue situated in the tiny town of Carville, LA. , a town bordered by sugar cane fields and the Mississippi river, work 12 hour shifts every day about 70 miles west of New Orleans. Three parishes are still deciding on whether or not to utilize the DMORT team, trying to handle the disinterments by their coroners’ offices. The facility recently moved to Carville from its previous location in Saint Gabriel. The new $17 million facility is designed for more long term use and storage if needed. The new location includes a morgue, offices, storage facilities, a cafeteria and six dormitory-style buildings that can house 300 staff members, two employees to a room. On any given day the facility has about 150 DMORT staffers working at the site and 50 other local, state and federal employees. The two main buildings are made with metal frames and a tension fabric similar to military facilities built in the deserts of Iraq for the war. The original temporary morgue was set up soon after Hurricane Katrina in the Iberville Parish community of Saint Gabriel. That morgue, in a privately-owned leased warehouse and old elementary school, has since been shut down. Operations at the new 52,000 square foot facility in Carville began December 6, 2005. Federal DMORT workers continue their search for disinterred caskets and vaults by land and air, driving by the swamps of flying over them in helicopters, looking for the telltale rectangular shapes. Hauling the 4. 000 pound vaults back to the cemetery is no small feat. DMORT Strike Team members must wade into the alligator and snake infested waters and wrap the casket or vault with a chain and attach it to a helicopter that moves it ever so gingerly, always anticipating the possibility of either the casket or the chain failing. If the whereabouts of the casket is know, it is returned onto a truck and taken to the DMORT Carville site and further examined. As of December, the official number of Katrina storm related deaths was 1,069. 897 bodies have been examined at the DMORT morgue, and 487 have been released to families. Another 147 have been identified, with all but two of those ready to be released as soon as family members can be found. Examiners have been unable to identify 263 bodies. DMORT workers have performed forensic examinations on more than 800 of the hurricane victims so far. DMORT officials found out in early December that the federal government approved $12. 8 million for DNA tests to identify hurricane victims. Right now, the federal government is paying 100 percent of the costs for the DNA testing, but the state will have to start covering 10 percent at some point after the new year. Sadly enough there is no horse-drawn hearse to take these disinterred caskets to the cemetery, equipped with the normal wailing jazz band trudging behind them through the city streets. These dead are not getting the traditional New Orleans send off. Instead refrigerated trucks escorted by federal uniformed police carry them away to the DMORT morgue in an attempt to identify where the caskets originated from before the floods and return them to their final resting place. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have become much more than just the most expensive disasters in American history. They’re the new looking glass, much like Sept. 11 was showing us a future of surprising challenges and tough choices. We struggle to remember that a family who has lost a loved one once doesn’t expect them to be disturbed in our society. With the assistance of the federal DMORT teams, local and state officials are now getting through the process of putting them back in their resting place, Again.

If you or a family member have any further questions or concerns with respect to cremation, cremation services, cremation costs or a direct cremation please feel free to contact Cremation Options toll free 24 hours daily at 1-877-989-9090.

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Can you see the future of funeral service?Many predictions have been made about what is happening and what may happen in this changing industry, but no one can truly see the future. The closest we can get to looking forward is by taking a close look at the source:The students. A random survey of mortuary science students across the United States, conducted by American Funeral Director set out to discover what students were doing and thinking with regards to their education and post graduation plans. Overwhelmingly students were pleased with their education and excited to begin working and placing their own unique stamps on the funeral world. In fact 83 percent of those students surveyed said they are either satisfied or very satisfied with their funeral service education experience. Another 14 percent are moderately satisfied leaving only 2 percent of the students who are dissatisfied. Similarly a very small percentage (3 percent) of students strongly oppose the current continuing education requirements while 67 percent strongly or moderately favor the requirements. The remaining students had no opinion. We expected going into this survey that percentage of women would be near 50 percent. In fact the survey conveyed that 64 percent of mortuary science colleges in the United States is comprised of women. Should this be a shock?Or should be the shock be that it has taken this long for women to be in the majority?After all, women have played an integral part in funeral service for generations, helping their funeral director husbands and sons with everything from washing and caring for the bodies to cosmetizing, accounting and greeting families. Until recently however women have stayed out of the formal education arena but all that is changing. Mandi Lindseya student in her final semester at St. Louis Community College is excited by the shift. “I think more women in the industry is wonderful. It will definitely change for the good,” she said. “I’ve had a lot of families tell me they are mover comfortable meeting with women than men. “Whether male or female the students surveyed fell into two major age brackets; they were either very young, with 43 percent in the 18-25 year old bracket or they were in the 40 to 50 year old bracket which made up 22 percent of the students surveyed. Students between 26 and 30 years of age made up only 14 percent of the students surveyed; and students in the 30 to 35 and the 35 to 40 brackets made up 7 percent each. Despite cremation personalization and preneed being at the forefront of many conversations and seminars these students overwhelmingly rated embalming (76 percent) and restorative arts (58 percent) as the aspects of funeral service of most interest to them, followed by funeral arranging (43 percent) business/managerial (24 percent) and preneed counseling (22 percent). These students for the most part have serious and realistic goals for their futures. As far as salary is concerned the majority of students expect an entry level salary of $25,000 a salary of between $40,000 and $60,000 after 10 years. Although these salaries might be on the low side compared to other professions these students could have chosen money doesn’t seem to be the leading factor determining this career choice. When the students were asked what attracted them to funeral service 57 percent said they chose the field because they enjoy helping people in their time of need. Answers ranged from “it’s a calling,” to “I have respect for human life and wish to help,” to “I find it fascinating work. “Lindsey took a part time job as a secretary in a local funeral home in order to decide whether or not a career in funeral service was for her. “That’s when I saw much funeral directors can help the families that come in because they are completely lost at that time,” said Lindsey. “The directors I served my apprenticeship under were wonderful people; they were all about helping the families. “Ivy Mackay a student in her last semester at Florida Community College of Jacksonville also enjoys helping people navigate their way through the funeral process. As a child Mackay was not allowed to see her grandmother before she died, and she always felt she did not get the chance for a proper goodbye. So now she helps others and understands the importance of that final goodbye. “I love my job and the employees,” she said. “I know this is where I want to be. “Mackay also has a degree in psychology and this is not unusual. Many of the students surveyed entered funeral service from other careers or from other degree programs including education, banking, city government, factory work, law enforcement, cosmetology, homemaker, food service, airline sales and computer engineering. Some 42 percent of students named their highest level of education as high school. Those with an associate’s degree make up 15 percent of surveyed students while those with a bachelor’s degree make up 22 percent. Six percent hold a master’s degree. Just as change in this industry comes in the form of gender, another important shift is the many future funeral directors who are entering the profession without any family ties to the business. Where this industry has traditionally been a generational business nearly one-third of the students when asked about their first experience with the industry wrote that they have not yet worked in a funeral home. Samuel James a student at Piedmont Technical College in Greenwood S. C. works in a family owned funeral home but it is not owned by his family. For as long as he can remember he wanted to work at a funeral home. At age 16 his father contacted the local funeral director and expressed his son’s interest. Soon after James said “he offered to let me come and get a feel for the business by just working on weekends. That developed into a job the summer between my junior and senior year and has continued as a part-time position for me ever since. “James will receive his degree at Piedmont around the same time he will also graduate from Erskine College with a degree in business. “My family is not in the business at all,” said St. Louis Community College’s Mandi Lindsey, “and actually they think it’s one of the crazier things I have ever done. “The students who did not grow up in the industry do have some disadvantages admitted Lindsey. The students who did not grow up in the industry do have some disadvantages admitted Lindsey. “They have been around it forever,” she said adding that the students with this lifetime of history know more about the goings-on of the day-to-day business from the start. And “they also pretty much have a job when they get out of school where most people have to go out and try to find a place to work or serve their apprenticeships. “However this doesn’t seem to stop these first generation funeral directors from answering what many of them feel is their calling. Of course the traditional passing of the torch from one generation to the next will never completely disappear within an industry so rooted by its very nature in family. But perhaps the shift is this: in today’s mobile information packed world children have more awareness and opportunity to work outside the family business than they ever have before. If they do indeed infinite possibilities and they still choose funeral service that certainly says something about their dedication and love for the business. Aaron Mathis who attends St. Louis Community College never felt pressure from this funeral director father to go into the business. Yet he can’t remember a time in his life when he wasn’t interested in following in his father’s footsteps. In fact he literally followed his father around the funeral home. “Growing up my father worked a lot ,” said Mathis and I realized if I wanted to be around him I would need to spend time over there. “But Mathis never felt pressure to go into the business. “When I got older I became more and more interested but my father still would allow me to see an embalming because I don’t think he wanted me to feel pressured into the occupation,” he said. But his father did finally give in and Mathis has been hooked ever since. Although every college or university has its share of students who become cynical about their chosen field and a lot of those students might leave the program to pursue something else or simply never follow through with their original goals. But of the students we surveyed very few fit this category. They are instead overwhelmingly focused o n the future of this industry. And they seem to not only understand the way funeral service is changing but they embrace it from the increase of women in the field to the rising cremation rate and the move toward the funeral home becoming a one-stop shop equipped with flower shops coffee shops and catering. Still what has always been important what has always been the funeral director’s greatest gifts of caring for the dead and helping the living map their way through death and grief remains steadfast and alive. Changes such as “coffee shops and Power-point presentations. . . all of these things will eventually be in the funeral home” said Mathis. “All of these things will be great for the family and friends; however If we as directors take our sights of the main reason we are here then our jobs are pointless. Added Mathis, “the family must come first. ”

If you or a family member have any further questions or concerns with respect to cremation, cremation services, cremation costs or a direct cremation please feel free to contact Cremation Options toll free 24 hours daily at 1-877-989-9090.

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Over the past three months, this column has explored two points of the Life Appreciation Four Point Arrangement System: the support discussion and the life review interview section. The four point interview is a proven system that impacts a family’s perception of value in the funeral, enabling them to begin to participate in the development of a funeral ceremony in which they feel valued and rewarded. It was originally developed in funeral homes under the auspices of the University of Oregon. The four point life appreciation funeral interview system is easy to learn, but it is “upside down and backward” to how most funeral directors usually make funeral arrangements and therefore has a definite learning curve. The most common funeral arrangement mistakes are: beginning the arrangements by taking the vitals, asking an endless number of “close-ended questions,” not discovering the family’s emotional experience around the loss, attempting to arrange the funeral far too soon after sitting down with the family, not obtaining enough quality information to make appropriate suggestions for the ceremony, not making ceremony suggestions that reflect the family’s value system, making inappropriate ceremony suggestions and not connecting emotionally with the family. In phase one, the support discussion we explored four basic communication skills that enable bonding to begin rapidly between the funeral director and the family in the funeral arrangement conference. Many funeral directors start their arrangement by putting pencil and paper aside and chatting with the family. However the use of specific communication skills to connect emotionally with the family is something of a much more sophisticated nature. After the emotional connection between the funeral director and the family is established, one might think it is time to talk about the funeral. Not yet. Phase two, the life review interview, is an in depth discovery of who the deceased was through the eyes of the family. There is a learning curve to acquiring this procedure because it is much more than finding out about a few hobbies and friends. Real personalized funerals are far more than memory boards and personalized casket panels: they convey a sense of who the deceased was. They are interactive or often non-verbal but always powerful and moving for friends and family. Everyone has a philosophical and/or spiritual or religious point of view that has shaped his or her behavior and personality. Everyone has life experiences that have shaped his or her behavior and beliefs and prominent personality traits that others knew him or her by. Everyone has accomplishments from the highly personal and spiritual to physical and material. The life review section of the interview guide is a comprehensive system for uncovering these sometimes personal and deeply meaningful beliefs, experiences and achievements in a manner that captures the family’s imagination and makes them participating partners in this exploratory effort. Over the period of time it takes one to feel confident that he or she has grasped the personality of the deceased the bond between client and funeral director continues to grow deeper. Using the life review section of the interview guide and the “practice story line” from the December 2003 issue of The Director and keeping in mind that our mission at this point in the interview is not to be arranging the funeral but rather coming to know the deceased through the eyes of the survivors, see how one funeral director recorded his impressions of Dave Mcburnett. Once the life review interview is complete, it is still not time to begin talking about the funeral. The third phase is perhaps the strangest to funeral directors. It is the phase in which the funeral director completes a written evaluation of the life review interview and begins to develop the funeral concept on paper for this individual client. The life appreciation training “formula” developed in the research years at the University of Oregon, is a comprehensive method to enable the funeral director to determine exactly what ceremony concept will energize this particular client, even when the client is not consciously aware of it at the outset of the arrangements. When the life review data is fed through the “formula” the appropriate ceremony concept will become apparent. How to present that concept however is in itself an art.

If you or a family member have any further questions or concerns with respect to cremation, cremation services, cremation costs or a direct cremation please feel free to contact Cremation Options toll free 24 hours daily at 1-877-989-9090.

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Cremation tycoon Henry Keizer, secretary general of the International Cremation Federation (ICF) and president/CEO of the Facultatieve Group, the Hague addressed CANA attendees on the topic of “Developments in Cremation Worldwide. ” He began his presentation by detailing ICF’s history and role in the cremation industry. The very first ICF convention, he explained took place in 1937 and was founded “to promote cremation to the highest standard. ” The group came together to create a set of rules and a code of ethics. In 1996 the ICF was granted consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations, which grants the federation the authority to contribute to the international cremation movement and the work of the United Nations. In some countries, Keizer said cremation is not accepted which has made the federation’s mission to “get the cremation movement going,” difficult. Greece for example is anti-cremation and yet has enormous influence on the government. Through the U. N. , however ICF has been able to have a greater push throughout the world. “As a worldwide organization we want to help people, but we also have to be sensitive,” said Keizer. “It’s a matter of learning and respecting each other. ” For example he said in Nepal, it is customary to bring the deceased person to the highest mountain and wait for the vultures to come. In other parts of the world this would be disrespectful. ICF has made a point to be sensitive to various cultures and traditions. Some of ICF’s goals include providing information about cremation, simplifying the cremation process and freezing cremation from any legal restrictions as well as eliminating any problems transporting cremated remains across country lines. Keizer also briefly spoke about the history of cremation. Although many people believe cremation was first developed in Europe, Keizer explained that this is not so. In 1792 Henry Laurens, the second president of the continental congress of the United States, a man who “fought fiercely against slavery,” noted in his will that he wanted this son to “cause my body to be wrapped in 12 yards of tow-cloth and burned until it be entirely consumed, and then collecting my bones, deposit them wherever he may think proper. ” There were no retorts at the time of course, so Laurens’ body was burned in a woodpile. The first active cremation came around 1815 in Europe, moving to Pennsylvania in 1876, then onto Canada in 1901 and the Netherlands in 1913. Keizer also spoke and showed slides of several modern crematories, one in Berlin that was built in 2000. The large and impressive building, he said has its downsides. For some people, “this is too impressive,” he said, “people are so impressed that they forget why they are there. It becomes about the building. ” Also in Berlin, the cremation process is fully automatic, with computers determining when each body will be cremated, when the casket will be taken out and placed in the retort, etc. And with the thousands of cremations taking place, often there is a backlog of six to eight weeks between the time of death and the time of cremation. In fact, the Berlin crematory has enough storage room for 600 caskets. With the cremation process becoming more and more automated, Keizer said it is important to keep the human element intact. At his firm, he said, “we have a rotating roster. ” One week, an operator may be working the retort, and the next week that person will be greeting families. Keizer went on to describe various cremation customs throughout the world. In India the family’s status is determined by the quality of wood used to cremate the body. With good quality wood being extremely expensive, “people will choose to use less wood from the higher quality instead of buying the right amount of the lower quality wood. ” The cremated remains in India are scattered in the river Ganges, into the same water where people bathe and where children play. The problem occurs when the cremated remains are not completely pulverized. As a solution, they have installed iron cages with meat eating turtles to devour any flesh. At the end of his presentation, Keizer touched on the future of cremation. He described the café’ at his crematory which gives families a place to hold a reception. A cemetery of crematory “doesn’t have to be dark and gloomy, or have the odor of death. People need to feel at home. ” He also spoke about how the Ospar convention relates to the cremation industry, as far as the amalgam in dental work which, when boiled into a vapor, separates into extremely toxic mercury. As a result of the convention, in most countries, by 2012 retorts will have to have filters in place. “There is a lot of money in that,” he said, suggesting that although this will probably happen in Canada before the United States that all crematory owners need to come up with a strategy.

If you or a family member have any further questions or concerns with respect to cremation, cremation services, cremation costs or a direct cremation please feel free to contact Cremation Options toll free 24 hours daily at 1-877-989-9090.

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The funeral homes were sued for negligence by all the families who had loved ones, 339 in total sent to be cremated at Tri-State Crematory between 1988 and 2002. Davis shared background on the case, portions of some of the documents and some of the rulings in that case. The plaintiffs in this case alleged that Tri-State Crematory failed to follow basic industry practices and acted in total disregard of human decency and the rights and feelings of the deceased families by improperly cremating bodies, commingling bodies in its custody and fraudulently returning to families non-human materials such as concrete dust. Davis described the crematory as “a very small room and the bodies were brought in by a gurney and had to be turned; the bodies were lifted up at one time by a hydraulic lift. In later years members of the family lifted and poured the body into the retort. “He went on to describe what was found when investigators descended upon the facility: “the crematory had body fluids on the floor and rust throughout the building,” said Davis. He asked “Are those red flags to funeral directors? Are those red flags to cremationists that maybe this crematory was not being operated correctly? Davis said that all cases involving the cremation whether it’s Tri-State the Bayview Crematory in New Hampshire or any future case will see the same allegations that the plaintiffs has in the Tri-State case. “There was. . . fraudulent concealment, negligence, intentional mishandling of a corpse and other,” said Davis. In his opening statement, defending the funeral homes, Davis argued that “what this case is really about is deception:perhaps the greatest deception ever. Ray Brent Marsh a fine upstanding person with an impeccable reputation in the community deceived everyone. He deceived the state of Georgia, but who did he deceive more than anyone else? You, the funeral home directors , the funeral home defendants. “Davis added, “what we intended to show was that even though Ray Brent Marsh was an independent contractor, that the funeral home defendants were as shocked as anyone. “Many funeral directors said Davis falsely believe that dealing with a third party contractor such as Ray Brent Marsh they are not liable for any wrong doing that there is a “gap in liability so they cannot come against me. “The federal judge in Georgia and Florida and nearly every state in the country has ruled that the funeral home “generally has no responsibility for a corpse committed by independent contractor but may be negligent for the liability of a contractor under certain circumstances. “The funeral home has a responsibility to the family. But funeral homes also need to protect themselves by having procedures in place, including as identification process and making all families aware of all procedures. Dais also suggested that funeral directors make unannounced visits to inspect the crematories they use. One red flag, he said is if the crematory provides pick-up and delivery. In both the Tri-State and the Bayview cases the crematory operator picked up and delivered bodies, precluding anyone from seeing the inside of the crematory. “When funeral directors would go to Tri-State unannounced they would find all of the barns were always under lock and key,” said Davis. “It should have seemed obvious what he was doing from these actions. “Another concern to the funeral director should be how the cremated remains are processed. “We finally developed testimony through Brent Marsh’s sister that they had a three foot steel rod and a four-by-four metal plate; the bones were raked into a tray and then they were crushed. In the early 80’s that was accepted as the standard of care. Now in cremation you have to have a processor to refine it down to less than an eighth of an inch so that it fits in a container. “Also he said that funeral directors need to make sure the crematory they are using is licensed, has operational records and proper authority under state law and that there are trained operators on the premises. Make sure there is a manual and it is being followed. “Ray Brent Marsh is a great excuse for you to charge more for cremation,” said Davis. “If you are going to charge more you better be prepared to do your due diligence. You can no longer rely on the certificate on the wall. “Investigate and use common sense explained Davis and look behind the scenes. Follow the steps and keep a checklist and it will keep you from being a defendant in another Tri-State Crematory Case.

If you or a family member have any further questions or concerns with respect to cremation, cremation services, cremation costs or a direct cremation please feel free to contact Cremation Options toll free 24 hours daily at 1-877-989-9090.

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In 1963 not long after Jessica Mitford’s scathing indictment of funeral service in the United States, President Kennedy was assassinated. In the days that followed the world had an up close and personal view of how Americans honored the memory of their dead. Since then, there have been some benchmark funerals that have amplified the need to grieve and reminded the world of the respect and dignity that the funeral offered. In 1997, it was the death and funeral of Princess Diana. Two years later, the world witnessed a funeral and memorialization of John F. Kennedy Jr. an in 2004 America paid its respects to President Ronal Reagan. In 2005 the poignancy and pageantry of the funeral played on the world stage. The ceremony surrounding the death and funeral of Pope John Paul II left an indelible mark on hundreds of millions of viewers whose eyes were transfixed by the reverent majesty of the Mass of Christian Burial that was punctuated with spontaneous applause 10 times from the hundreds of thousands who jammed St. Peter’s Square. Pope John Paul II was buried April 8th shortly after a ceremony described as one of the largest religious gatherings in modern times. The pope was laid to rest at 2:20 p. m. (8:20 a. m. EDT) according to the Vatican. The numbers of people who witnessed the funeral was staggering. More than 300,000 jammed St. Peter’s Square and more spilled out onto the wide Via della Conciliazione leading toward the Tiber River. Video screens were placed throughout the streets of Rome to accommodate the nearly 2 million who traveled to the Italian capital to be close to the historic ceremony. Early indications were that more than 2 billion people turned in to view funeral on televisions around the world. In the people native Poland, 800,000 people gathered in a vast field in Krakow to watch the funeral, many having spent the previous night attending mass and gathering around bonfires. Four kings, five queens, at least 70 presidents and prime ministers and more than 14 leaders of other religions were attending alongside the faithful. Together they was a powerful ceremony and spectacle that clearly illustrated the importance of ceremony-it was a farewell beyond comparison. At the very moment the pope’s simple wooden coffin was visible upon the shoulders of a dozen pall bearers emerging from the basilica, spontaneous applause filled the air, which is how the pope was greeted in life. Twelve pallbearers carried the casket out of the church and into the square. They were followed by a procession of 160 cardinals dressed in bright red vestments. The coffin which was adorned with a cross and an “M” for Mary was place on carpeted ground in front of the altar for the mass. The book of the gospel was placed on the coffin and occasionally the wind lifted the pages. In his will, John Paul requested to be interested “in the bare earth,” and the ceremony was to be like the service for Paul VI. The details were left to the College of Cardinals. His body was placed under the floor of the grotto below the basilica, among the remains of pontiffs from centuries past near the tomb traditionally believed to be of the apostle Peter the first pope. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, dean of the College of Cardinals, a close confidant of John Paul, presided at the mass and referred to him as our “late beloved pop” in his homily that traced the pontiff’s life from his days as a factory worker in Nazi-occupied Poland to his final days as the head of the world’s 1 billion Catholics. “Today, we bury his remains in the earth as a seed of immortality-our hearts are full of sadness, yet at the same time of joyful hope and profound gratitude. ” Said Ratzinger. He added that John Paul was a “priest to the last” and said he had offered his life for god and his flock “especially amid the sufferings of his final months. “”We can be sure that our beloved pope is standing today at the window of the Father’s house, that he sees us and blesses us,” Ratzinger said, pointing to the window where John Paul made his final public appearance. After the mass ended, bells tolled and the 12 pallbearers sporting white gloves, white ties and tails presented the coffin to the crowd one last time, and then carried it on their shoulders back inside the basilica for burial-again to sustained applause from the hundreds of thousands in the square. In a ritual new to the procedure, a white silk veil was placed over his face and a special prayer said. By tradition various medals, imprinted with the dates, of the pontificate, were placed in the coffin along with a parchment sealed in a lead tube, summarizing the pope’s life.

If you or a family member have any further questions or concerns with respect to cremation, cremation services, cremation costs or a direct cremation please feel free to contact Cremation Options toll free 24 hours daily at 1-877-989-9090.

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Compassion and empathy cannot be coaxed, practice or taught, but I do believe that they can be learned.  It’s not so much about what we say as it is about what we feel.  At times when the whole concept seems a little vague or hard for me to understand, I have only to remember that to the families I serve, It’s not confusing at all.  In our town, the hospital has a morgue and two -person cooler that is rarely used.  Death is not seen as an embarrassment by our doctors and nurses.  They feel no need to conceal its presence from the rest of the hospital’s occupants and staff.  So even during the day, we go straight to the patient’s room, greet the family and then wheel the dead on quilt covered stretchers through busy hospital corridors.  These journeys are met by those we pass, not with horror or disdain, but with courtesy and respect.  Death care here is seen as a natural extension of all that the hospital has done for these people in life.  And so it is that our death calls came not from morgue attendants but from doctors, nurses, chaplains and social workers who are passing the torch, as it were.  They would never want the family to feel abandoned just because the hospital’s work is done.  The hospital calls us at all hours.  As I get older, my body complains a little more strongly about leaving a warm bed to go on these excursions.  But I don’t mind, and I doubt that I ever will.  I love the stillness of the night, and how in summer it is broken only by the sounds of crickets.  I love how in winter a full moon lights up the snow-covered hillsides of our valley.  Everything moves a little slower at night, and there is something indescribably special about moving around in a silenced, sleeping world.  So when the night shift- charge nurse, Barb called shortly after 3 a.m. to tell us that Alice had died, I told her as I always do, that I’d be along shortly.  Alice’s husband, Herb, would be there waiting for me.  He would find comfort in knowing that Alice would not be wheeled off to a cooler in some out of the way corner of the hospital and forgotten.  The lamp on Alice’s nightstand provided the only light in her room.  Its dim glow shined on Alice’s face with Herb who was standing at her side, holding her hand.  Herb gave a quick glance as I entered the room then returned his gaze to Alice.  “She’s beautiful,” he said softly, then looked to me for a response.  I stood at his side and looked into Alice’s face.  The disease that had claimed her had not been kind.  She had left this world with her mouth hanging open, appearing somewhat ghostly and very thin.  I thought back to the last time I had seen her, a few months earlier.  She had been sitting in her wheelchair all alone in the hall at the nursing home.  I had crouched down, put my hand on her arm and said hello.  She looked at me and let loose with a string of foul language that was really quite startling.  Alice had already left her body.  I’m sure that Herb had gotten used to hearing her talk this way, but it could not have been easy for him.  On the nightstand next to the bed plainly lit by the lamp, a picture of Herb and Alice as young adults rested carefully on a small easel.  Herb was very handsome and Alice simply stunning.  Perhaps Herb had been glancing at that photo when he said what he said what he did, or maybe he could still see that beauty in her lifeless face.  It didn’t really seem to matter, one way or the other.  “Yes, beautiful,” I replied.  As I wheeled Alice through the hospital corridor, Herb walked alongside the stretcher, resting his hand on the quilt near her right knee.  I moved slowly so he could keep pace.  A nurse accompanied us outside and stood with Herb while I put the stretcher into the van.  “You be good to her, young man,” he said.  Looking at Herb as he spoke, it was very clear to me that I was looking into the eyes of the young man I had seen in that photo on the nightstand.  An older, tired version perhaps, but still him, and he was watching out for her, even now.  Glancing in the rearview mirror as I pulled away from the hospital, I could see Herb and the nurse, watching us leave.  I finished with Alice at the funeral home then headed back home.  It was still dark, but it wouldn’t be for long.  As I pulled out of the village, I passed the hospital where a car pulled quickly into the parking lot and screeched to a halt, its four-way flashers blinking.  A young woman emerged from the driver’s seat, ran around to the passenger’s side, removed a small child and then scurried up the ramp to the emergency room with the child in her arms.  Everyone out and about at this hour has a purpose.  In the shadows just beyond the hospital a police cruiser was parked, waiting for someone not familiar with this, its usual hiding spot, to come speeding by.  As I passed the cruiser headlights flashed hello.  Those of us who frequent the early morning hours know each other.  Sometimes if the cruiser’s occupant spots me coming into town, he will follow me to the funeral home to find out who has died.  He’s not being nosey, it really matters to him.  He’s one of us, and he mourns local deaths like we do.  I like that about him.  Up ahead of me, a faint glow was barely visible along the eastern ridge of the mountains of the valley that cradles our town.  Behind me, the village would soon be coming to life.  At the Three Bean Calif, our local coffee shop, the regulars would soon arrive.  By now, Herb would be back home, sitting alone, waiting for his son to arrive from New York,  I imagine him sitting there, holding the portrait I had seen at the hospital, wondering how the years had passed so quickly.  Sometimes I think that night calls give extras meaning and perspective to my life that the eight-to-fivers who live behind the darkened windows that I pass in the night will never experience.  I once tried to explain this to one of them.  “Curious,” was his reply.  I didn’t really expect him to understand.  Once home I crawled back into bed for perhaps another hour of sleep before the alarm went off.  Then it was back to town, to the Three Bean for a cup of coffee and conversation.  One of the night shift nurses had stopped by the café on her way home, so the regulars already knew about Alice’s death.  News travels quickly around here, which is kind of nice, actually.  It means that at the cafes, coffee shops and various other places around town that I frequent, it’s not always me who is the bearer of bad news.

If you or a family member have any further questions or concerns with respect to cremation, cremation services, cremation costs or a direct cremation please feel free to contact Cremation Options toll free 24 hours daily at 1-877-989-9090.

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With a challenging economy laying false any claims that the funeral service profession was ever recession proof, exhibitors and attendees were hopeful for some good news as they traveled to Las Vegas for the International Cemetery Cremation and Funeral Association’s 2009 Convention & Exposition at Mandalay Bay.  There are many barometers that gauge the success of a convention.  The first would be to draw record attendance.  And this year’s event did just that, drawing a record attendance of 1.574 with suppliers filling 310 booths, according to Linda Budzinski, director of communications and membership services.  The numbers break down to:  747 total cemetery, funeral home, crematory and allied business representatives.  Of these, 18 percent represented combination cemetery/funeral home operations, 28 percent represented standalone cemeteries, 38 percent represented standalone funeral homes and 16 percent represented “others” including standalone crematories and cremation societies, profession associations and mortuary school students and faculty.  200 spouse/guest registrations, eight press passes and speakers from outside the industry, 614 exhibitor and supplier registrations.  These numbers were up from the 1,161 attendees and 498 exhibitors at the 2008 convention in San Diego.  “We feel especially good about this year’s figures because in 2007, we had 86 people from ALPAR (a Latin American death care association) and the majority of them were not in attendance this year because ALPAR’s convention conflicted with our,” Budzinski says.  “So we more than made up for the loss.”  Robert Fells, external chief operating officer and general counsel for ICCFA, was thrilled with how the convention went.  “We had record attendance at our Government and legal session on Tuesday afternoon, at one point they counted over 100 people in the room,” he said.  There was a great amount of interest in the Transportation Security Administration’s new Known Shipper requirements as well as the Federal Trade Commission’s recent advisory opinion prohibiting any discounts on the basic services fee, he said.  “At a time when many businesses are struggling and associations by and large struggling and associations by and large face challenges, it is exciting to see the incredible turnout and positive attitude the attendees and suppliers brought to the event,” said Gregg Williamson, who became president at the conclusion of the event.  Williamson, executive vice president of marketing and sales for Rose Hills Memorial Park and Mortuary in Whittier, Ca, has held many leadership positions within ICCFA, including vice president of the products and services steering committee, industry relations steering committee and education steering committee as well as board member, chairman of the sales and marketing committee and speaker at numerous educational programs.  He served as program chairman for ICCFA’s 2006 convention.  Taking over as president elect is Kevin R. Daniels of Daniels Family funeral services, Albuquerque, N.M.  Daniels has been in the funeral business for more than 30 years in many parts of the United States.

If you or a family member have any further questions or concerns with respect to cremation, cremation services, cremation costs or a direct cremation please feel free to contact Cremation Options toll free 24 hours daily at 1-877-989-9090.

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With every death, there is one major choice that has to be made; what to do with the remains.  And as much as the industry talks about and tries to support various methods, for most of the population the choice comes down to burial or cremation.  This is a choice that’s becoming increasingly difficult to make.  One thing is for certain: cremation isn’t going to decrease in popularity anytime soon.  Just look at David Nixon’s annual cremation survey and the rising cremation rates it reveals, to Lindsay Eagan’s survey which shows that Generation Y prefers cremation by a wide margin.  So cremation isn’t going anywhere but up.  One day down the road, traditional burial may be looked at as a passe’ thing to do and cremation will be regularly accepted norm.  Of course 502 years from now, science may have advanced to the point where a deceased body can be instantly vaporized by a blast from the mortician’s handy Cremate Gun 3000, which will cost the client 400,000 North American Union Credits, but I digress.  Here in the near future, plain old cremation is primed to at least pull even with burial.  Funeral directors will have to get a better handle on cremation services and pricing in order to stay ahead of the game.  Have you adjusted our cremation prices, according to demand in the past several years?  If not the time is way past due to do so.  If you see that the cremation rate in your area is booming over the next few years, should you open your own crematory?  So like a grieving family has to make a choice between burial and cremation, you also have to make a choice on how to maximize your cremation services.  At least until they invent that vaporizing gun.

If you or a family member have any further questions or concerns with respect to cremation, cremation services, cremation costs or a direct cremation please feel free to contact Cremation Options toll free 24 hours daily at 1-877-989-9090.

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