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Where I’ve Been – Travel Brain
46 cities in 11 countriesAsiaSouth Korea: SeoulThailand: BangkokThailand: Chiang MaiEuropeBelgium: BrusselsFrance: Le HavreFrance: NiceFrance: ParisGermany: BerlinGermany: DresdenGermany: ErlangenGermany: Frankfurt am MainGermany: HardheimGermany: MarktheidenfeldGermany: MunichGermany: NurnbergGermany: TauberbischofsheimGermany: WertheimHoly See (Vatican City): Vatican CityItaly: RomeItaly: VeniceLuxembourg: LuxembourgNetherlands: AmsterdamUnited Kingdom: LondonNorth AmericaUnited States: Ann ArborUnited States: AnnistonUnited States: AustinUnited States: CelinaUnited States: CherokeeUnited States: ClevelandUnited States: ColumbusUnited States: GettysburgUnited States: JasperUnited States: MandanUnited States: MetairieUnited States: MiamiUnited States: NashvilleUnited States: New OrleansUnited States: Oil CityUnited States: PittsburghUnited States: RedmondUnited States: RestonUnited States: San FranciscoUnited States: San JoseUnited States: SeattleUnited States: ShermanUnited States: Washington
Put Up A Parking Lot
Innovative ways to save old cemeteries.
More on Burns Memorial Chapel
A Detroit News article on Burns Memorial Chapel, and comment from the NFDA.
Now that Funeral News Central is up and running, I’m editing my funeral industry posts here at Raven’s Beak to point to their new home.
“Smart Growth” or not?
An environmental group is trying to block construction of a funeral home in Harmony TWP, New Jersey.
Now that Funeral News Central is up and running, I’m editing my funeral industry posts here at Raven’s Beak to point to their new home.
Evicting the Dead
A Pontiac, Michigan funeral home was evicted from their facility today. forcing the removal of 5 bodies and 22 sets of cremains by the county Medical Examiner.
House of Burns Memorial Chapel received the foreclosure eviction notice in January of this year. The court order allowed the eviction to begin at 3:00 AM, although the bank had been working with the ME’s office for “a couple of weeks” to make sure things were handled respectfully.
More from Google News. Will this be a trend? Reports suggest the funeral home had almost ten months to work something out with the bank, but I know that funeral homes often deal with families who are hard-pressed to come up with the funds for even a basic funeral service. It’s not uncommon for funeral homes to have payables running well over 180 days.
No updates this weekend; I’ll be out of town with one of my kids. See you next week.
A Biker’s Conveyance
Ty Conklin wanted a better way for his biker buddies to make their last ride. Bikers don’t much like cages; that’s part of what makes them bikers.
After a buddy’s funeral, he and some friends were sitting around a bar, considering possibilities. Ideas were exchanged; drawings were made.
I did a funeral with a horse-drawn hearse, where that hearse met the procession for a last-mile ride. I also had wreckers, pick-ups, and fire apparatus used as hearses. Letting the hearse reflect the deceased is a perfect way for the director to round out his service to the family.
Ohio Funeral Director Loses License
James Qualls III, of Springfield, has lost his funeral director and embalmer’s licenses for two years in Ohio, over misappropriation of funds relating to pre-paid funeral expenses. In Ohio, a funeral director has 30 days to place such funds in a trust account or insurance policy, and in some cases, Qualls failed to do so.
Another Converted Church
Carr-Yager Funeral Home, in Columbia, Missouri, is buying a former Church of God facility for use as a funeral home. Columbia City Council gave its approval to a rezoning request Monday night. There’s more coverage at the Missiourian website.
Carr-Yager also has a chapel in Fayette, Missouri.
Building Still Serves Families
A church near Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania is gaining new life. The former St. Joseph’s Church in Port Griffith is being converted to a funeral home, by a member of the old St. Joseph’s Parish. The Township Zoning Board approved the rezoning, with the only stipulation being an opaque fence around the back of the funeral home.
He Put Another Nail in His Coffin
Actually, Grady Hunter put every nail in his coffin. He built it himself – and won a blue ribbon at the North Carolina State Fair for his woodworking skill.
Hunter, 75, was a bricklayer until his joints wore out. Then he became a homebuilder. He says he’s never lived in a house he didn’t build, and he didn’t want to be laid to rest in someone else’s work, either.
He used walnut for the box, and trimmed it in hard-rock maple and Brazilian Cherry. I saw that done a few times locally. I know there are some Amish craftsmen in the area who can make one pretty quickly; a friend of mine did that for her husband.
I think this is a pretty neat idea, myself, especially when he did it partially out of consideration for his kids. Not having to pick out the casket is good. Being able to say your dad built his own casket is even better.
Hide The Funeral Home
The Cornelius, North Carolina Planning Board wants a funeral home to build a buffer behind their proposed building, so traffic on nearby I-70 won’t see the back of the building. Here’s what’s there now, if Google Street View has the address right:
View Larger Map
The planning board doesn’t want signage that’s viewable from the freeway, either, nor do they want drivers to be able to see the hearses parked there.
The funeral home is wanting to renovate a 30-year-old structure that’s currently not in use, and provide a few more jobs, and a valuable service to the community, and all vice chairman John Hettwer can come up with is
“I’m disappointed that we’ll be left with a less-than-desirable structure many years into the future.”
How disappointing. It’s a funeral home. Death is a fact of life. Why try to hide the facility? That only adds to the stigma surrounding funeral homes. This brings to mind the Gladstone quote:
Show me the manner in which a nation or community cares for its dead and I will measure with mathematical exactness the tender sympathies of its people, their respect for the laws of the land and their loyalty to high ideals.
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