The Family Plot Blog
Obesity and Cremation: An Explosive Combination
Did you hear about the 440 pound woman whose body fat set off a grease fire in a cremation retort in Austria? It's all over the funeral director chat rooms. Her copious amount of body fat caused the fire inside the crematorium, and resulted in clouds of smoke billowing out of the building after the filter mechanisms failed to stand up to the job. Firemen had to rush to the scene in Graz, Austria, where they were confronted by thick black,...
Conscious Discussions Online Radio Interview
Green burial, advance funeral planning, the impact of obesity on funeral costs, final expense insurance - these and other hot topics were tackled today on the Conscious Discussions online radio program. Host Lillian Brummet interviewed Gail Rubin, Certified Celebrant and author of The Family Plot Blog as well as A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Don't Plan to Die. Everyone who buys a copy of A Good Goodbye through the link above...
A Good Goodbye Does Good!
The other day a friend told me A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Don't Plan to Die helped her family as her sister was dying of cancer. Even though the sister had been ill for several years, she and her husband could not bring themselves to talk about funeral planning. When my friend came to visit during her sister's last days, she was able to foster a conversation about what her sister wanted in her memorial service. The result...
Funeral for Johnny Tapia
The news here in Albuquerque is yesterday's big funeral for deceased boxer Johnny Tapia. A legendary local figure, almost 7,000 people attended a spirited memorial service for him held at the UNM Arena, a.k.a. The Pit. One interesting thing about this outpouring of public connection: no one questioned that there would be some sort of memorial service. Even though the man had his demons and flaws, he was much-beloved by fans, friends, and...
Birthday Break!
Today is my 54th birthday. I am thankful for everything this great life has provided. Here is a lovely picture of me at the age of three with my two grandmothers. Grandmothers are a true embodiment of love. Remember to celebrate life every day! My husband just sent me this joke. You might enjoy it. An old man and woman were married for many years, even though they hated each other. Whenever there was a confrontation, yelling could be heard...
Snake-Handling Preacher Dies by Rattlesnake Bite
Snake-handling is a test of faith in some Pentecostal churches, a test Mack Wolford, 44, failed on Sunday when he was bitten by a rattlesnake he owned for years. Ironically, his father died the same way at age 39. He was profiled in a November 2011 story in The Washington Post Magazine about snake-handling and faith. Here are some highlights from the obituary written by Julia Duin. Mark Randall “Mack” Wolford was known all over Appalachia as a...
Another Reason to Write Down Final Wishes
A recent Dear Abby letter illustrates the importance of writing down what you want done with your mortal remains, as well as providing the financial means to carry out those wishes. Will your family have the resources to pay for your final expenses? A funeral and burial can cost ten times more than cremation. Still, no matter what method of disposition you choose, costs still run into thousands of dollars. Do you have money in the bank or some...
Dead Stop: NPR Visits Cemeteries
In the first installment of Dead Stop, Morning Edition's summer road trip series about interesting grave sites in America, they feature Ben & Jerry's ice cream company's "Flavor Graveyard." Headstones are dedicated to bygone favorites such as Oh Pear (1997), Makin' Whoopie Pie (2002-2003), and Urban Jumble (2000-2001). Sean Greenwood, Ben and Jerry's Grand Poobah of Publicity, provided a tour of the cemetery in Waterbury, Vermont. Like most...
Taps 150th Anniversary
On this Memorial Day, let us all pause to remember those who have served and those who have died in the service of our country. The Washington Post recently did a story about the 150th anniversary of the creation of Taps, the moving "day is done, gone the sun" lights out melody. Check it out.
Live Tonight on Ghost Raps Radio
Tune in tonight at 10:00 p.m. ET/8:00 p.m. MT for a fun conversation on Ghost Raps Radio, based in Richmond, VA! Gail Rubin joins Big Ray and K.B. to talk about funeral planning for those who don't plan to die, and some spooky stories of spirits visiting memorial services. Ghost Raps Radio also has a TV component. And they take phone calls! The call-in number is 804 - 798 - 1010. View or listen online at www.GhostRapsRadio.com. Everyone who...
Should Friends Attend Pet Funerals?
If a friend invited you to attend a pet funeral service for their dog or cat, would you go? That's the question in the Social Qs column of The New York Times last week. It was titled "Burial for a Basset Hound." I personally buried our family's basset hound by myself decades ago. It is an experience still vividly seared into my memory. I was home alone, and my parents were out of town. Because I had a cold, I let Lady out, rather than walk her....
Reasons People Avoid Funeral Planning: Embalming
Embalming is one of the "ickier" aspects of funerals that keep people from considering funeral planning in advance. That's a shame, because no state laws require embalming. It comes down to the question of viewing. The advent of embalming, and its use during the Civil War, changed the course of funeral practice in the United States. It set the U.S. funeral industry apart from the rest of the world. Dr. Thomas Holmes, one of the founding fathers...
60 Minutes Story on Cemeteries
Last night on 60 Minutes, Anderson Cooper reported on abuses by cemeteries and asked if dishonesty and mismanagement was rampant in the industry. Here was Cooper's introduction: Everyday in this country, grieving families spend thousands and sometimes tens of thousands of dollars on funerals, cremations and burials. They often have to make decisions quickly, at a difficult time, without doing much research or reading the fine print on...
TV Show Body Count Study by Funeralwise.com
A Funeralwise.com study counted dead bodies on television shows to measure the role of death in popular culture. The STARZ series Spartacus: Vengeance topped all shows with an average of 25 dead bodies per episode, followed by HBO' Game of Thrones, with 14 dead bodies per episode. The 40 TV series analyzed averaged 132 dead bodies, in total, during a single week for an average of more than 3 dead bodies per episode. The body count study was...
Solar Eclipse Ring of Fire
Got some great shots of the solar eclipse this evening in Albuquerque! What a once-in-a-lifetime event. These images were taken through solar sunglasses. Approaching eclipse: The RING OF FIRE! Family turned out for the 7:33 p.m. MT event: Awesome event!
U.S. Undertakers in the 1800s
In the 19th century, most undertakers made furniture or cabinets. They expanded their lines to include wooden coffins or caskets. The difference between a coffin and a casket is the shape – coffins taper at the feet and head, with a distinctive six-sided configuration. Then these entrepreneurs offered to “undertake” services for the grieving families, hence the term undertaker. They would place the body in a casket, take it to the cemetery, dig...
Shmira: Accompanying The Dead
"I'm here for the body," I told the clerk at the Albuquerque Sunport air cargo building. Actually, I was there to accompany the body to the funeral home to fulfill the Jewish tradition of shmira. That's accompanying the dead to their final resting place and watching over the body before burial. This body had come a long way, and still had a ways to go. But thanks to the coordination of our local Chevrah Kaddisha, the Jewish burial society, no...
Dying Matters Week
Dying Matters Awareness Week is held in the United Kingdom and Wales every May.
Missing Mom on Mother’s Day
Today, Mother's Day, let's look at some issues of living and dying Several journalists wrote eloquently in today's papers about missing their mothers who have died. They bring home the importance of living and loving to the fullest, each and every day. Frank Bruni wrote "Muddling Through Mother's Day" in the Sunday Review section of The New York Times. His mother died at the age of 61 in 1996, when he was still in his 30s. He's now 47 and...
Susan Rich Talks Interview
Tune in online for A Good Goodbye interview with Gail Rubin talking about funeral planning issues on Susan Rich Talks at http://www.w4wn.com/. Starts at the top of the hour! We'll be talking about cremation, 30 Funerals in 30 Days, The Newly-Dead Game™ and of course, funeral planning for those who don't plan to die.
ShortList.com on Funeral Films
The web site ShortList.com recently ran a post about films with funerals. They called it "Cinema's Most Memorable Funerals." It's interesting, I use many different funeral films in my talks about funeral planning, and only one of them made this list. You can see short YouTube videos from each film at ShortList.com. The films they list are: To Die For Wedding Crashers Man on the Moon Four Weddings and a Funeral (I've got this one) The Royal...