[Magdalen] Cremation (was A good idea?)

[Grace Cangialosi]

I really never thought about anything but cremation, because both of my parents always said that's what they wanted. The irony, though, is that they bought two plots in a beautiful cemetery and put up a double headstone...and none of their ashes are there! My father said he wanted his scattered, and he had already scattered my mother's--somewhere. We tried to guess where hers might have been and scattered his there.
So I actually own two lovely plots in Michigan. I wanted to donate them, but I have to have the headstone removed first, and I haven't gotten around to it.

As for me, I made the arrangements and paid for cremation several years ago. It only cost $1500, and I bought what they call a "scattering tube" to put my ashes in. It's cardboard (looks like an oatmeal container) and has a picture of a field of sunflowers around the sides. I have it on a bookcase in my living room. I guess it's kind of a "memento mori." My daughter thinks I'm weird!

> On Apr 24, 2016, at 10:56 AM, Jay Weigel <jay.weigel at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I have wanted to be cremated for as long as I can remember. I had thought
> to have my ashes scattered half in the ocean near where I was born, and
> where I have always felt happiest, and half here in the Shenandoah, where
> at least part of my family originated and where I've recently been
> happiest. Recently I've heard about a process where your ashes are buried
> in a biodegradable container with the seeds of a tree, and that appeals to
> me greatly.
> 
> On Sun, Apr 24, 2016 at 9:03 AM, James Handsfield <jhandsfield at att.net>
> wrote:
> 
>> Changing the subject - I had visions of Roger going into Canada to be
>> cremated. 8-)
>> 
>> Marcy and I planned our funerals a little over a year ago, and the other
>> day I did the final preparation by signing us both up with the Neptune
>> Society for cremation and delivering our ashes (not at the same time, I
>> trust) to St. Bede’s for interment in the Memorial Garden.  Marcy’s DoK
>> cross will be interred with her and I’m going to ask a friend who does
>> geocaching to note the exact spot so my ashes will, one day, be interred
>> with Marcy’s.
>> 
>> Alleluia!  Christ is risen!
>> 
>> James Handsfield
>> jhandsfield at att.net
>> 
>>>> On Apr 24, 2016, at 8:23 AM, Christopher Hart <cervus51 at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Very much the choice in my family. All 3 of my grandparents whom I knew
>>> (not sure about the one who died long before I was born) and both of my
>>> parents were cremated. My father's ashes are presently at my brother's
>>> house in New Jersey awaiting the planned memorial/funeral service in
>> Maine
>>> this July, he having died in March in Florida. You can't do that with a
>>> corpse, but cremation provides such options.
>> 
>>