The Family Plot Blog
Paul Holcomb Celebration of Life
Paul Holcomb was only 42 when he died in his sleep on Saturday night, but he had lived three decades longer than doctors predicted.
Vernon Garcia Rosary and Wake
Vernon Garcia faced death ten years ago when he suffered a massive heart attack at age 54. Quadruple bypass surgery saved his life. On Sunday morning, another heart attack took him to be with the Heavenly Father.
Clotine B. Irvin: An Intimate Family Funeral
Clotine Irvin, a.k.a. Nanny, did her own funeral planning and pre-paid for her arrangements. Nanny's plan was to have family and friends come together and tell stories. The intimate family funeral that occurred to remember her did just that. As the family gathered, I met her son Jim outside the funeral home. He said his mom, at age 81, was ready to go. Her husband had died 20 years ago, her boyfriends had died, and she herself almost died a...
Orlando Muller Visitation and Rosary
Orlando "Orlie" Muller loved to smile, loved to cook, loved to golf. He ran the celebrated El Camino Restaurant in Albuquerque until he sold it and retired in 2002. He died of kidney failure at the age of 72. The visitation and Rosary service for him at Holy Family Catholic Church brought about 150 people to pay their respects and comfort his widow Mary Ann and his six daughters Janet, Lillian, Rachel, Josephine, Anita, and Elizabeth. The duo...
Pat and Connor Porter Life Celebration
As I pulled out of the driveway to attend Pat and Connor Porter's celebration of life service, the song "Spirit in the Sky" by Norman Greenbaum came on the radio. That set the tone for a true celebration of the lives of a father and son taken too soon in a private plane crash on July 26. The extensive obituaries for two-time Olympian Pat and his son Connor (included at the end of this post) detail their achievements, their personalities, and...
Connie Gotsch: Broadcaster, Author, NM Press Woman
Broadcaster, journalist, author and animal lover Connie Gotsch’s large family of friends remembered her at a memorial service at the NM Broadcasters Association.
Irene Mora, Devout Member of LDS Church
Irene Mora loved her family, her students and her church. A devout member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS), her community filled the chapel to overflowing at her funeral. It was a love-fest that left those who attended commenting that it was one of the nicest services they'd ever witnessed. The eulogy by Mateo Martinez noted that Irene was a special person from a young age with a strong faith. She was a living example...
Kent Gormley: A Home Funeral
I was late for Kent Gormley's home funeral. A few wrong turns on the way to his remote 40 acres on the east side of the Manzano Mountains delayed my arrival. The strains of a bagpipe tune floated on the air when I finally found all the cars parked along the gravel road. As I followed the signs toward the meadow and house, five guys in jeans and t-shirts straggled out of the woods. But I didn't miss everything. A greater part of this story took...
Starting the 30 Funerals in 30 Days Challenge
The 30 Funerals in 30 Days Challenge starts today! By the way, today is the 35th anniversary of the day "Elvis left the building." Here's a short description of my reasons for doing this challenge. http://youtu.be/igEDCn7TPwg Remember, talking about sex won't make you pregnant, talking about funerals won't make you dead. Tune in to see what's happening on the front lines of funeral service and start a funeral planning conversation today!
Gail Operates a Backhoe at a Cemetery
After speaking yesterday at the Ohio Cemetery Association's annual meeting in Columbus (and lots of glowing reviews) I got to test drive a honking big backhoe! What a rush that was (see video). Forest Lawn Memorial Park hosted a field day, complete with lunch from the famous German Village restaurant Schmidt's Sausage House. Nothing like getting fired up with brats and sauerkraut and operating heavy machinery! Apparently, the cemetery planned...
Hello Ohio Cemetery Association!
Looking forwarding to speaking today at the Ohio Cemetery Association annual convention here in Columbus! My talk is titled "Grave Expectations: Trends in the Cemetery Trade." A few topics I'm talking about: QR codes on memorial markers in cemeteries Cremation rates, the economy and the change in burial rates The impact of baby boomers reaching retirement and death Growing interest in green burial Certified Celebrants: what they do and what...
Essays on Mourning and a Nice Wedding Story
Yesterday's New York Times had two really great essays on mourning I'd like to draw to your attention. The Modern Love column featured a piece by Lucy Schulte Danziger titled "Sad News Like a Warm Hug Goodbye." She writes about how her dad died on Father's Day at the age of 82. He was a lifelong swimmer who drowned while swimming in a lake. He died while doing something that he loved - what a way to go. She feels the mourning more as a warm hug...
Medicine and Mortality
Today, two items regarding end-of-life and having a conversation about one's own mortality. Medical directives are imperative to ensure living and dying the way you want. The following chat and op-ed give you lots of food for thought. For more than a year now, Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez has been writing and talking about how we die. On Thursday, he hosted a Google+ Hangout with Dr. Judy Epstein, clinical director of the Compassion...
Before Their Time Memorial Songs and Music
No one expects to have their child die. Michael Whitman certainly didn't. After getting the phone call that Whitman's son Breck had killed himself at the age of 23, Sydney Long immediately sat down at the piano and wrote a song for the young man. She performed it at his memorial service three weeks later. Whitman was numb right after Breck died. When Long played "Breck's Song" for him prior to the funeral, its power brought tears and emotional...
Funeral Board Game in the Works
FUNERAL DIRECTOR: A Race to Your Final Resting Place is a proposed board game to make funeral planning fun. It's currently a project at Kickstarter.com, an innovative avenue for independent entrepreneurs to get funding for their creative projects. The game is best played by four people. They pick a card to learn how they die, then the fun begins as they use coffin-shaped game pieces to navigate the funeral planning process. The game is meant to...
A Short Video on Living and Dying
In the midst of teaching a workshop with doctors and nurses on the subject of compassion, Frank Ostaeseski had a heart attack. This led to a triple bypass surgery and a close brush with death. It was a real-life lesson in living and dying. This short video features the founder of the Metta Institute suggesting we don't take life for granted and live deeply and fully. He offers some great thoughts on how precarious and precious our time alive...
Video About Jewish Burial
Here's an interesting short video on Jewish traditions regarding burial versus cremation. A father writes a letter to his son, reconsidering the idea of being cremated and scattered in favor of burial in the traditional manner - naturally green burial! http://youtu.be/a7FBPlOs2XQ
2012 Edition of 30 Funerals in 30 Days
The third "30 Funerals in 30 Days Challenge" is coming soon. From mid-August to mid-September, Gail Rubin, The Doyenne of Death™, will attend a funeral a day and write about each on The Family Plot Blog. The goals of the 30 Funerals in 30 Days Challenge are to: 1. Illustrate the many creative ways people celebrate the lives of those they love. 2. Help reduce a fear of talking about death – something that will happen to all of us. 3. Show...
Dying to Live or Living Until You Die?
Some "live for today" words of wisdom that arrived in the email inbox from Cousin Sandy. Living and dying are intertwined. Are you getting the most out of your life? HOW TO STAY YOUNG 1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay 'them.' 2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down. 3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts,...
Discussing Dying with Parents
Communications over advance directives is one of the toughest conversations to start. End-of-life issues literally scare most families down a path toward a needlessly painful, extended death. Today's New York Times Sunday Dialogue is titled Discussing Dying With Loved Ones. It's an exchange of letters on the topic of how aging parents, their children and doctors face — or avoid — the reality of death. Some great quotes from readers: ... Except...
NPR Dead Stop: Animal Trainer Frank Inn
NPR's Dead Stop cemetery story series today focuses on Hollywood animal trainer Frank Inn. He's buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills. Inn made stars out of dogs, pigs, camels, chimpanzees, snakes and other animals. He worked in both TV and film, making a star out of a pig called Arnold Ziffel on the 1960s hit series Green Acres and a shelter dog named Higgins, better known as Benji. His love of animals was so strong, he...