Sense and sustainability – 2
I am incredibly grateful to Cynthia Beal for this long and deeply considered response to this post. I wish I felt I were worth it, Cynthia! But I know that all readers of this blog will find in your words a great deal of food for thought. Dear Charles, Thanks so much for another provocative […]
Skulduggery
Hat-tip to FuneralWise.com for this cheerful story: In Guatemala City, morticians called skullmongers speed to murder scenes looking to snag customers. When rival firms meet on the street, price wars ensue. Some skullmongers offer combos: a coffin, a wake and a funeral for as little as $150. Some mongers even receive tips about murders […]
Promising them the moon
Disturbing reports about China reach me from a contact in the US Pentagon who, for reasons which will become apparent, I cannot identify. The victory of the Communist Party in China marked a clean break with the past, a reinvention of the nation. But some traditions just wouldn’t lie down and die. One of these […]
Sense and sustainability
Cynthia Beal heads up the Natural Burial Company in the United States. She’s a friend of many in this country. This blog is her most ardent admirer. Before becoming a green burialist Cynthia spent a good many years in organic foods. That experience has proved invaluable to her and to many others looking for greener, […]
It could never happen over here?
Terrific tale here from Poland of warring undertakers bribing doctors and paramedics to kill patients and deliver them to the funeral home of the highest bidder. It’s reckoned that the number of murdered patients may be 20,000. It lasts over an hour, it’s gripping stuff and it’s beautifully filmed. Are there funeral directors in the […]
Paul’s Epistle to the Bypassers
Paul Sinclair is best known in the world of funerals as the man who heads up Motorcycle Funerals and offers what, with characteristic self-deprecation, he describes as “the most professional, thrilling and coveted motorcycle hearse in the world.” A coldly objective appraisal shows this claim shows to be an understatement. Paul is the best by […]
Last-chance snap
Sweet story here from Georgia, USA recounted in the Monticello News: A cousin of mine, Larry Lynch, was in college with a young man from deep south Georgia in the “piney woods” section of our state. The young man told of the death of his grandfather several years back. When grandfather died the neighbors […]
What are we missing?!
The availability of personalization features that reflect and honor individual lifestyles … life symbols designs add a distinct touch to the casket … embroidered tribute panels … the Memory®Safe Drawer encourages family to participate … important for expressing your loved one’s individuality … many times a particular species of wood may evoke an important memory […]
Simon Smith’s way-out playlist
It’s got to be a baby boomer thing, has it, this new wave of funeral directors whose most distinguishing characteristic is that they are nothing like (old school) funeral directors? Not necessarily. I can think of some who have not come fresh to funeral directing in middle age. This is not exclusively a counter-culture thing. […]
Celebrancy opportunity
Here is a possibly inspiring tale from a celebrant in the south-east. She has asked me to withhold her name and email address because she simply won’t have time to correspond if lots of people want to contact her. Hi Charles You have quite often written about celebrants and recently people who do not want […]
