The Family Plot Blog
Encountering the Dead in Real Life
In today's New York Times opinion section, there's a thought-provoking piece by Bess Lovejoy, author of the forthcoming book Rest in Pieces: The Curious Fates of Famous Corpses. The column, titled "The Dead Have Something to Tell You," provides a look at how death has drifted away from home, now handled by professionals. She also provides some good info on the growing use of hospice care in the U.S. Here are a few choice paragraphs from her...
Holyoke Library Talk
Recently uploaded a video of my talk on Monday night at the Holyoke Public Library to YouTube. Here's the description: Gail Rubin, author of A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Don't Plan to Die, speaks at the Holyoke Public Library. She talks about the three people in the book's dedication (Norman Bleicher, Arthur Cohen and Wesley Vincent), Day of the Dead celebrations, her 30 Funerals in 30 Days project, including the spectacular...
Friday Funeral Film: Places in the Heart
I'm starting a series looking at funeral films every Friday! Get the low down on movies that have lessons on life, death and funeral planning. You'll also be able to see these articles in the Funeral Films section at www.AGoodGoodbye.com. Places in the Heart (1984-PG) stars Sally Field in her Oscar Award-winning performance as a widow in a Depression-era small town who has to learn how to make a living after her husband, the local sheriff, is...
The Young@Heart Chorus Rocks!
Rock and roll performed by senior citizens... who'd have thought it would have lasted 30 years? The Young@Heart Chorus just celebrated their 30th anniversary with three CD release concerts in their hometown of Northampton, Massachusetts. The minimum age to join is 72, and members must attend two two-hour rehearsals every week. New chorus members have to rehearse with the group for a year before they can perform. The constant rehearsing pays off...
Speaking Engagements in Western Massachusetts
I'm so excited to be heading out to Holyoke and Northampton in western Massachusetts tomorrow! Three speaking engagements are on the schedule - two presentations of Laughing in the Face of Death: Funny Films for Funeral Planning and a library talk focused on A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Don't Plan to Die. Plus, it's peak leaf color time! Check out this image from a few days ago. Here's the lowdown on each event: Sunday,...
No Religious Affiliation on the Rise – Certified Celebrants Needed
A new survey by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life, conducted jointly with the PBS television program Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly, finds that the number of Americans who do not identify with any religion continues to grow at a rapid pace. One-fifth of the U.S. public – and a third of adults under 30 – are religiously unaffiliated today, the highest percentages ever in Pew Research Center polling. In the last five...
Massachusetts Death with Dignity Act
This Election Day, November 6, voters in Massachusetts will decide whether to adopt a Death with Dignity Act. The vote will determine whether a dying patient can obtain a medication from his or her physician, with the intent to bring about a faster, easier death, if the patient chooses. It's a topic we'll touch on during my talk at the Funeral Consumers Alliance (FCA) of Western Massachusetts meeting on October 21. Here's how the act reads: It...
Woody Allen on Living Life Backwards
Woody Allen has the best quotes about death. Here's some death humor that has been around a while, but it's worth repeating. WOODY ALLEN ON LIVING LIFE BACKWARDS "In my next life, I want to live my life backwards. You start out dead and get that out of the way. Then you wake up in an old people's home feeling better every day. You get kicked out for being too healthy, go collect your pension, and then when you start work, you get a gold watch...
More News on the Frozen Dead Guy
Who says you can't make news when you're dead? Bredo Morstoel, the body at the center of the Frozen Dead Guy Days festival, has been in the headlines this past week. Bredo, who's been preserved in a Tuff Shed that houses his crypt of dry ice, has been there since 1993. It was the grand scheme of his grandson Trygve Bauge to put the 89-year-old in a deep freeze after he died of a heart condition in 1989. He's been paying Bo "The Iceman" Shaffer...
ABQ Death Cafe a Big Success!
The first Death Café west of the Mississippi was a resounding success. Held at a restaurant in Albuquerque on Sunday, people came together in a relaxed, confidential and safe setting to discuss mortality and death while eating delicious cake and cookies. “As The Doyenne of Death, I’m all about helping to start this conversation, and the Death Café is a wonderful way to take this topic out of the dark,” said Gail Rubin, coordinator of the event....
Little-Known Veteran Benefits
U.S. veterans get death benefits for their service: burial in a national cemetery with one spouse, a memorial marker, and military honors at the funeral/memorial service. There are some little-known benefits that families may want to check out. If a veteran is buried in a private cemetery but did not get a military marker, you can still get their military service recognized on the existing headstone, crypt or niche cover with a medallion....
DeadAtYourAge.com Provides Fun Comparisons
There's this fun death website where you can compare your lifespan to others who fell short of where you are now in the space/time continuum. Just type in your date of birth at DeadAtYourAge.com and you'll find out all sorts of famous and not-famous people who died short of your current age. And it changes daily! For example, for me, at age 54 and 119 days, here's what the site had to say: At your exact age, Mark Belanger died. He was a star...
Frozen Dead Guy to Leave Nederland?
Grandpa may not be in the Tuff Shed much longer. What will happen to the Frozen Dead Guy Days festival? News from the Boulder Daily Camera: Nederland's most famous frozen resident could be on his way out of the small mountain town he helped put on the map. Trygve Bauge, the grandson of the late "Grandpa" Bredo Morstoel -- Nederland's famous Frozen Dead Guy -- said he is considering moving the frozen corpse from the Tuff Shed where he has been...
Pet Euthanasia and Palliative Care
We be so emotional about our pets when they are old and sick. That emotion can be closer to the surface for pets than for the people in our lives. In an opinion piece in yesterday's New York Times, "Deciding When a Pet Has Suffered Enough," Jessica Pierce wrote about the challenges she faced when the health of her 14-1/2 year old dog Ody deteriorated badly. She covers issues of euthanasia, palliative care, costs, and quality of life for pets....
Tim Burton Says Plan Your Funeral
In today's New York Times Arts & Leisure section, there's a huge feature about film maker Tim Burton. He talks about his movies, his life and, yes, funeral planning. Burton, as you may know, made darkly comic films that include "Beetlejuice" "Edward Scissorhands" "The Nightmare Before Christmas" "Corpse Bride" and "Big Fish." You might wonder why I included that last film. It's a great meditation on the stories of our lives and the role...
Death and The Civil War
The American way of death changed dramatically during the Civil War from 1861 to 1865. Embalming was just starting to be used experimentally in the 1840s and 1850s. The huge number of war dead, and the surgeon-embalmers who saw an entrepreneurial opportunity, changed the way bodies in general were treated in the U.S. in the 20th century. In the 1860s, surgeon-embalmers utilized chemical compounds, including mercury and arsenic, to preserve...
Final Thoughts on the 2012 30 Day Challenge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DllOBgjoz0A I have walked through the valley of the shadow of death, and I have feared no evil. After attending and writing about 30 funerals and memorial services in 30 days, I have made it through to the other side. It has been a journey of tears and laughter, of rituals and symbols, of love and loss. This was the third year doing my 30 Funerals in 30 Days Challenge. As in years past, my goals were three-fold:...
Rev. Sun Myung Moon Funeral
The three and a half hour funeral for the Rev. Sun Myung Moon was the longest of my 30 Funerals in 30 Days Challenge. Actually, it’s the longest funeral I’ve ever experienced.
Multiple Memorials for Doug ReVelle
Sometimes, one memorial service is not enough. The many facets of our lives can be celebrated over time and space with different people.
Debi Lester Anglican Celebration of Life
An impressive eight-page program was handed to all of the attendees as they entered the celebration of life for Debi Lester. As the Parish Administrator for Christ the King Anglican Church of Albuquerque, Debi had created many programs like this for families who had held funerals there.
Remembering Phillip Jordan
Phillip Jordan traveled all over this country, from Maine to Alaska, Montana to New Mexico, Seattle to Long Island, and up and down the East Coast.