[Magdalen] cemetery plots...

[Grace Cangialosi]

My father scattered my mother's ashes, but never told us where, except that it was "in a park." His instructions for himself were simply to be cremated and have his ashes scattered. My sister and I tried to figure out where he might have scattered my mother's ashes, and we scattered his there.

As for me, I made the decision about twenty years ago that my ashes are to be scattered up on the mountain near here. I told my kids the Blue Ridge can be my headstone!

> On Oct 3, 2014, at 2:31 AM, James Oppenheimer <oppenheimerjw at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> This reminds me of our tour of cemeteries in Long Island a couple years
> ago, looking for graves of relatives.  It took us some time to figure out
> the arcane method they use to designate graves, but we finally found some,
> in many cases, we came down a line of unrelated graves, and at the point
> where a stone on one side was one number off and a stone on the other side
> was also one number off, we could ascertain that we had found the
> grave-site, but family had not been able to put a stone on it.  It was sad.
> 
> My in-laws had a child while they were in Pittsburgh. Named Mark, he did
> not live long, and was buried with no stone. My beloved spouse sometimes
> would talk about Mark. Rarely, but it was on her mind.  She was getting
> into genealogy and researched grave-sites, and found a positive hit for
> Mark's grave.  She was able to have a stone put on it, and a picture taken
> and sent to my in-laws. It did help, I think.  One walks away from these
> things, but is never able to leave them behind.  Helen was able to know
> that her son now has a proper stone.
> 
> We have not planned for our own deaths.  We obviously should, I know.
> As things stand now, we want to be cremated and our ashes spread with the
> ashes of our companions. I think I'll just say our executor(s) can pick a
> nice location that's not too much trouble for them.  Who knows where we'll
> be in five or ten years, assuming we live that long?
> 
> James W. Oppenheimer
> *“If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better
> for people coming behind you, and you don’t do it, you're wasting your time
> on this Earth.”  -- *Roberto Clemente
> 
> On Thu, Oct 2, 2014 at 11:22 PM, Raewynne Whiteley <raewynne1 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> My parish has a cemetery. Assuming the costs includes perpetual care, it's
>> actually pretty low.  Cemeteries cost a surprising amount to run -
>> maintenance of grass, trees, roads, administrative costs, etc.  We don't
>> buy back plots either, but will accept them back as gifts to be used as
>> graves for "paupers' burials".
>> 
>> Raewynne
>> 
>> On Thu, Oct 2, 2014 at 3:39 PM, Lynn Ronkainen <ichthys89 at comcast.net>
>> wrote:
>> 
>>> My mom is now interested in selling 'her' gravesite, purchased 40 years
>>> ago when my father died and she bought 2.  I just got off the phone with
>>> the cemetery and, of course, they do not facilitate selling, or buy them
>>> back... it was suggested that I run an ad in the diocesan bi-monthly
>>> paper.  The current cost of the plot in question? $1,400.  ...
>> unbelievable
>>> (IMO). One ad is $20. and the person in the classified section said that
>>> often these ads run for several months ($20. x number of issues).This is
>> an
>>> RC cemetery in suburban Detroit.
>>> 
>>> Making 'blowing in the wind' even more appealing, for moi.
>>> Lynn
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> website: www.ichthysdesigns.com
>>> 
>>> When I stand before God at the end of my life I would hope that I have
>> not
>>> a single bit of talent left and could say, "I used everything You gave
>> me."
>>> attributed to Erma Bombeck
>>> 
>>> Thomas Merton writes, "People may spend their whole lives climbing the
>>> ladder of success only to find, once they reach the top, that the ladder
>> is
>>> leaning against the wrong wall."
>>