Westie goes west
I know a lot of you like a good gangster funeral. This one’s not premier cru, but it’s not bad. “My father was no saint,” Ryan McElroy, one of Mr. McElroy’s three children, said in a eulogy. “But people said he could light up a room. He’s been away 15, 20 years, and you still […]
What is a funeral for?
Three views here about what a funeral is for by Christian holy people in response to this article here. Something that allows space for people of all faiths and none to recognise that our lives are about more than the acquisition of wealth and bigger than the sometimes compartmentalised lives we live … until we […]
A true one-off
The best obituaries are to be found in the Victoria Times Colonist. Its archive of obits will prove a treasure trove for social historians of the future. Here’s an especially fine one — he sounds like a lovely guy. I like the scattergun approach. The task of collecting single words or phrases is something that celebrants […]
Making doubly sure
Back in April I reported the story of the undertaker who forged a client’s signature on a cremation form and then had the body cremated without their knowledge. The body was that of a 26 week-old boy, Sonny. His parents had wanted to dress him and put special items in his coffin. Read it here. Sonny’s parents, […]
Who’s the fastest of them all?
Ray Bidiss’s trike hearse world speed record got the newswires humming. When I heard it I paused and pondered. I think I said ooh. Maybe you did, too. Didn’t hear about it? Read about it here. Take nothing away from Ray, he blitzed down Elvington airfield at 114.1 mph with a coffin on board. But […]
Ain’t no grave can hold my body down
Here’s another song. Johnny Cash used to sing it. This is the Tom Jones version. I seem to be on a bit of a roll at the moment. It won’t last. There’ll be time to catch up, I’m afraid. There ain’t no grave gonna hold my body down Ain’t no grave gonna hold my body […]
Absolute rotter
Here is the best post this blog will ever publish, so don’t glance at its length and give up. Read on! Today is all about Bill Jordan. I first heard from Bill back in December 2010. This is what he said: I am an aging reformed biologist, now more or less a writer, but more […]
Funerals are for…
Four comments here from this article in yesterday’s Guardian. Organising the funeral for my 17 year old son, who died in an accident overseas in Sept 2008, was made vastly easier by the wonderfully kind funeral director and an equally wonderful C of E Canon – a Canon whose first words on meeting us were […]
Seeing doppel
The toiling wretches at GFG Central were arrested in their labours the other day by the discovery of a doppelganger in New Zealand — Good Funeral Guide NZ. They uttered a heartwarming if parched cheer as the overseers, puzzled by the commotion, moved in with their whips. GFG NZ is the brainchild of Tamara Linnhof, […]
Buried along with their names
When the media reports events around death and funerals it customarily seeks to jerk tears or generate fury with stories fuelled by ignorance. Research is boring and in any case truth is far too dull. Take this piece here from WalesOnline. It begins HUNDREDS of people are being laid to rest in empty funeral parlours […]
