Cremation
In our profession it is interesting to note what kind of funeral rites are held around the world. One year ago today, on October 13, 2016, the King of Thailand, King Bhumibol Adulyadej died. Since that time plans have been made for a Royal Cremation for the nation. Prior to the Royal Cremation, the King’s…
Read MoreNot so long ago we wrote an article on a somewhat new phenomena of the cremation generation. I refer to the 1960’s to about the year 2000 as the Golden Age of Funeral Service and have coined the term “Cremation Generation” for the time period beginning in 2000 up to the present time. The new…
Read MoreDiane Lange, the owner of Moonlight Tattoo in Ocean View, New Jersey has been tattooing for 35 years. In the past six months, however, she has explained that the number of calls she is getting for cremation tattoos has been rapidly increasing. While we know that cremation rates have been increasing in the U.S., what…
Read MoreYesterday’s edition of the Morning Call, a newspaper covering the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania carried an article about a new crematory receiving permission to be installed by the Fullerton Wilbert Vault and Burial Company in the Lehigh Valley. It goes on to say the the zoning board unanimously approved the installation for a business that…
Read MoreI graduated from mortuary school in 1980 and in June of that year entered the funeral profession. Life was pretty simple, families were of the nuclear type, services only differed dependent on what religion the deceased belonged to, and there was no cremation in my little area of Minnesota. I tell this story often —…
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As I’ve said before on these pages — I retired from full-time funeral directing about four years ago and continue as a part-time minority owner of the firm I was affiliated with for over 33 years. A lot of things have changed over that time but – as many of you will agree – probably…
Read MoreAbout five or six years ago I was at the Minnesota Funeral Director’s Convention when I first heard about alkaline hydrolysis – the process of an acid bath like process to decomposs the body. I was wandering around the exhibit floor and there was a small booth promoting a machine for such. Being inquisitive, I…
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