The Family Plot Blog
Dental Gold and Cremation
One of the questions that frequently come up in my public presentations is "What's the value of the gold crowns in my mouth and will that cover the cost of my cremation?" At the recent Cremation Association of North America (CANA) convention, I met Kevin McKay with DDS Refining, a company that refines the precious metals in dental prosthetics, who helped answer these questions. The short answer, if you've got six to eight gold crowns in your...
The Difference Between Ossuaries and Columbaria
If you aren't in the cemetery, cremation or funeral business, it's understandable you wouldn't know the difference between an ossuary and a columbarium - or even what they are. A columbarium (the plural is columbaria), is a structure that houses urns holding cremated remains. They can vary in size from a wall or free-standing structure in a cemetery to an elaborate building with thousands of niches to permanently memorialize and house cremated...
Comparing Cremations in the U.S. and Asian Countries
Jeff Chancellor, CFSP, is Director of Education, Training and Research for Eckels, a provider of funeral service products worldwide. Over the course of his long career in funeral service, Jeff has experienced cremation in more than a dozen countries on three continents. He's especially knowledgeable about funeral traditions in Asia. In this short video recorded at the annual convention of the Cremation Association of North America, Chancellor...
Aug. 26: We Can Do That? New Trends in Death Care
Gail Rubin, CT, speaks at the Albuquerque Del Norte Rotary Club meeting on Wednesday, August 26 at noon. Her talk is titled “We Can Do That? New Trends in Death Care." The modern funeral is changing. Cremation is on the rise, and options abound. Learn about creative celebrations of life and what you need to know BEFORE there's a death in the family in this eye-opening talk. The meeting will take place at the Sheraton Uptown, northeast corner of...
Glass Cremation Art at CANA
Americans have been cremating our dead since at least 1913, when CANA, the Cremation Association of North America, started. The organization was formed to promote the "modern way" and the "safe and hygienic way" of dealing with a dead human body. At that time, and up into the early 1920's, cremation was the choice of the wealthy and well-educated. All crematories were located on cemetery property and stately columbariums were built to house and...
News and Notes: The Latest on Cremation at CANA
This week, the Cremation Association of North America (CANA) holds its 97th annual convention in San Diego. I'll be there to report on cremation issues such as body donation, mercury emissions, environmental impact, and cremation rates. YouTube videos on developments displayed at the expo to come! The San Jose Mercury News just ran a story about weird job titles, and the Doyenne of Death was featured! I'm in the company of titles like Snack...
NY Times Editorial on End-of-Life Care
In Sunday's New York Times, the newspaper's editorial board published this opinion piece, "Helping Patients and Doctors Talk About Death." Kudos to the New York Times for all of the many thought-provoking pieces they've run lately on end-of-life issues. Here's the editorial: Medicare announced plans this month to reimburse doctors for talking with patients about what treatments they want — and don’t want — toward the end of life. This sensible,...
October 6 and 7: Two Talks in Maryland
Gail Rubin, CT, will be speaking in the Washington, D.C. area in early October. The author and host of A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Don't Plan to Die, Ms. Rubin is a Certified Thanatologist (a death educator) who uses funny films to teach about serious end-of-life subjects. Tuesday, October 6, 10:30 a.m. to noon "Jewish Funeral Traditions on Film" presentation at Temple Beth Ami, 14330 Travilah Road, Rockville, Maryland....
The Palliative Care Four Questions
Being Mortal, Atul Gawande's acclaimed book, subtitled Medicine and What Matters in the End, helps illuminate those dark corners where fears of death lurk. While medicine has made great life-saving strides over the past few decades, we humans still have a 100% mortality rate. There is no cure for old age. With only 30% of adults preparing advance medical directives, it's so much harder to talk about end-of-life issues when no one's discussing...
The TEDxABQ-Toastmasters Connection
This story recently appeared on the website for District 23 Toastmasters, covering New Mexico and neighboring parts of Texas, including Amarillo and El Paso. Toastmaster Gail Rubin Selected for TEDxABQ Kudos to Gail Rubin, ACB, for her selection as a speaker for TEDxABQ 2015. The new President of Albuquerque Challenge, Rubin identified her Toastmasters experience over the past four years as a key element to landing one of 20 sought-after...
Muslim Burial Ground Misconceptions
Residents of Farmersville, Texas, about 35 miles north of Dallas, are fighting to prevent the establishment of a Muslim cemetery on an empty strip of land next to a highway because of misconceptions about threats it could pose to the community. To help illuminate what Muslim burial entails, Gail Rubin, the Doyenne of Death® offers these insights: The funeral traditions of Muslims and Jews are remarkably similar. Both Jewish and Muslim burial...
Digital Address Books and Death
The New York Times' Sunday Review section featured on the front page "My Digital Cemetery" by Rob Walker. He started by stating he has 2,743 contacts in his digital address book, which stretches back two decades to the dawn of digital devices - in his case, a 1996 Palm Pilot. That seems like a lot. He admits they've been passed along with each new device he's acquired. He's interviewed a lot of people over those 20 years, and their contact...
August 22: Albuquerque Death Cafe
Mark your calendar for the next Albuquerque Death Cafe on Saturday, August 22, 2015 from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. The event will take place at Gail Rubin's home - RSVP through the Meetup Group or post a note in the comment section. Click here to go to the Meetup page. The address will be provided to those who indicate they will attend. The objective of the Death Cafe is “To increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most...
News and Notes: TEDxABQ and Mortality Minute
Exciting news: Presenting a TED talk is a dream come true for many speakers. I've been selected to be one of 20 speakers at TEDxABQ, New Mexico's independently organized TED event. TED talks (TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design) offer big ideas and inspirational thoughts from a wide range of people. My big idea relates to encouraging preneed funeral planning and preparing advance medical directives. More than 2,000 people will...
September 12: Gail Rubin Speaks at TEDxABQ!
Hold on to your hats! Gail Rubin, Certified Thanatologist, will present a TEDx talk on taking death out of the closet, talking frankly with your family and making end-of-life plans: advance medical directives and pre-need funeral planning - and her big idea to help make that happen. TED talks - which stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design - are all about ideas worth spreading* (the asterisk indicates "*Probably. But you be the judge")....
The Composition of Human Cremated Remains
If you've ever wondered why cremated remains can look so different, this guest article by Nick Savage, President of Memory Glass, has all the answers, down to the chemical composition of human cremated remains. What Exactly are Cremated Remains? As funeral directors, crematory operators, and even as a glass keepsake manufacturer, we deal with cremated remains every day, it’s our business. The cremation rate in the United States has risen so...
Bobby Wonderful on Burying Your Parents
Bobby Wonderful: An Imperfect Son Buries His Parents by Bob Morris illuminates the emotional roller coaster Baby Boomers face as our parents decline and die. Morris' wit and honest reflections will make you laugh and make you cry. His memoir takes us to the Long Island home where he grew up, the hospital rooms where his mother and father spent their last days (years apart), and assorted vacation spots where Morris is routinely interrupted by...
Event: July 11 Albuquerque Death Cafe
The next Albuquerque Death Cafe will be held Saturday, July 11, 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Gail Rubin’s home. The new regulations regarding Medicare reimbursing physicians for discussing end-of-life issues and advanced medical directives with their patients is great news! The objective of the Death Cafe is “To increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives.” It’s all about an interesting,...
Social Security Administration’s Death Master File
On CBS's 60 Minutes yesterday, they ran a story about the Death Master File of the Social Security Administration. They have dead people who are still on the rolls to receive benefits, and they have very much alive people who have been declared dead by the federal government. The death benefit for reporting a death to Social Security is $255. That's what an average funeral cost in 1937, when Social Security was established. The benefit has not...
Understanding Grief and Mourning Through Film
Wednesday, July 8, 2015 at 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Osher Lifelong Learning presents "Understanding Grief and Mourning Through Film" with Certified Thanatologist Gail Rubin. Grief is pain, and mourners in the midst of pain may feel like it will never end. Every individual grief journey is unique to each person in its emotional depth and duration. Films provide a safe and memorable way to examine grief and mourning reactions and consider healing...
New Hampshire Funeral Directors Association Meeting
The New Hampshire Funeral Directors Association (NHFDA) summer convention brought funeral directors from throughout the Granite State to Hampton Beach. This is one of the few spots along New Hampshire's rugged 18-mile coastline that actually has a sandy beach. The two-day event featured Certified Thanatologist Gail Rubin presenting two different two-hour film clip-illustrated continuing education programs. "Jewish Funeral Traditions on Film"...