Poll: Burial or Cremation?

[wabmester]

Oy vey. It's time for me to update my will, so I thought I'd start a fun poll! If you want to be buried, tell me where. Back yard? Hometown? If you want to be cremated, what do you want done to your ashes? Anybody planning to have any nifty memorials build? Hmm, maybe a hologram would be cool.

Personally, I'm leaning towards cremation with ashes thrown into the sea. Then the whole sea is my memorial. But it does seem like a waste of good composting material.

 

[SteveR]

Interesting that you bring this up now.

DW and I talked about this a little last night. Our situation is a bit more complex than most since I already have a plot next to my late wife. Current wife wants me next to her. We will be looking for our final resting place in the near future.

One of the smartest things my parents did was to get all their final wishes down on paper including prepaying for their funerals. We already used my Dad's and it was a great help to us all when he died. It is truly a gift for those that have to make the arrangements. I did it for my late wife with no preplanning at all and it was very very difficult.

Sorry to be a downer but it is important to think about and talk to your spouse about.

 

[REWahoo]

Cremation and burial in a National Cemetary. Low cost alternative to going out with a bang like Hunter Thompson.

 

[Cal]

I said do something useful with my parts - although, when I'm dead, I won't really care what happens to my body because....I'll be dead.   Not sure how good my "parts" will be to anyone as I haven't been to kind to my body over the years.  But, I figure med schools always need cadavers.

My family and I have talked about this. While other members of my family are religious and want a "service" of some kind, they don't really care what happens to the physical remains. Me, personally, I don't think there is anything after "this" so I've told my family to not even bother with any kind of service unless it's something that they want to do because it will make them feel better. I won't know either way.

 

[wabmester]

But, I figure med schools always need cadavers.

Yeah, I've considered that. But have you ever seen how med students treat cadavers? I have an irrational fear that somebody I knew will be in the room while some punk student is playing with my duodenum.

 

[KB]

I want to donate what I can then cremate the rest.

SteveR, if you and current wife and cremated, you can share the plot you already have.

 

[Nords]

But have you ever seen how med students treat cadavers?

No worse than students treat teachers!

For me, first it's organ donor time-- come and get it.  Then I, too, want to be donated to UH's medical school (or wherever I end up).  They keep the cadavers for a couple years (that's what they say, anyway, I'd hate to be responsible for the inventory) and cremate whatever survives the training process.  Then I want someone to paddle me out and help me catch one last wave.

Last year the city was considering dredging the waters off Waikiki to rebuild Queen's Beach.  One of the beach boys pointed out that Duke Kahanamoku's remains (and those of many others) had been scattered off Waikiki.  Dredging that stuff back onto the beach would mean that visitors were rolling around in Duke's remains, in a manner of speaking.  The whole project, although quite feasible & affordable from an engineering perspective, died a horrible public-relations death.

 

[wabmester]

Dredging that stuff back onto the beach would mean that visitors were rolling around in Duke's remains, in a manner of speaking.

I would have thought that the stuff floated around the Pacific Gyre, but according to this FAQ, it sinks.

 

[retire@40]

I think I do too much preplanning. I bought a plot for 4 when I was in my 20s. I did this because I figure by the time I go (hopefully many decades from now), there may not be any more room in the cemetary where most of my family is buried. In fact, not only is the whole section of land almost taken in the area I purchased, but the cost for my plot has doubled.

 

[REWahoo]

...not only is the whole section of land almost taken in the area I purchased, but the cost for my plot has doubled.

Another real estate investment success story...

 

[Outtahere]

Use what ever parts will help someone else then light the fire.... no way I want to be put in the ground. Husband knows it, parents know it but don't like it..hopefully they'll go before me. They've (parents) bought their plots years ago on a "buy one get one free" deal...talk about frugal LMAO!!!

C__

 

[retire@40]

Another real estate investment success story...

I don't even count this as part of my net worth since I never plan on selling it. It's a dead investment in more ways than one. I wish I bought more plots though. Or better yet, maybe I'll buy a huge piece of land just to convert it to a cemetary. I'm always thinking.

 

[Gone4Good]

Not on the poll by my choice is "What do I care?  I'm dead!"


Although "Stuffing" and "Mounting" sounds fun.

 

[wabmester]

Not on the poll by my choice is "What do I care?  I'm dead!"

Fixed.

Now, some questions for some of you who have already completed the morbid task of will making.

What does your spouse have to do to close out your credit cards?

What should be done about recurring charges that automatically get charged to your personal card?

As I'm going through the list of stuff that should be done after I die, I figure a bunch of it could be automated. Anybody know of a service that automates post-mortem bookkeeping? Would you subscribe to a web-based service that tracked your important digital docs, handled various aspects of winding-down your existence, and provided web space for a virtual memorial? (Patent Pending)

 

[REWahoo]

I'll only need it for about 3 days.

Jeez, Jarhead! Thought you were watching the game...

 

[Jarhead*]

Jeez, Jarhead!  Thought you were watching the game...

I'm watching as we speak. 5th. inning, 2 to 1 Boston. Also switching back and forth to Cleveland and White Sox.

 

[haha]

When the time comes for me, would you consider a short-term lease on one of your plots?

I'll only need it for about 3 days.

Jarhead, glad to see that you are back from your 40 days in the desert. How is the loaf and fish making business going?

Ha

 

[Brat]

I am one of those sandwich kids.  Mom is in a nursing home.  During one of those periods when I thought she would soon leave this earth I called on the mortuary where I knew she had written her last wishes.  It said "As my survivors shall decide."  This sounds nice, but the reality is one sibbling is, to put it kindly, difficult.  My brother and I, and the "other sibbling" all know that she wished to be cremated.  However, the mortuary said that if any survivor said "No", they would not cremate. 

Lesson in all this: don't leave it up to your survivors to fight it out, they have enough to deal with!!!!

 

[Michael]

Bury my body. It will just be resting, until the Lord returns to raise it back to life.

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 1 Thessalonians 4:16 NIV

 

[Jarhead*]

Jarhead, glad to see that you are back from your 40 days in the desert. How is the loaf and fish making business going?

Ha

Ha:  I changed the loaf and fish into wine.

Good timing as won a few bucks on Boston.  They beat the Yanks, about 10 minutes ago.

The conversion worked well, thank you.

Here's to your health, Mikey.

Jarhead

 

[kz]

Hubby and I both want to be cremated. His ashes will be spread in our friend's woods where DH hunts. I will be spread on a soccer field near a tree that I want donated since I spent SO MUCH time with the boys at soccer fields!!

 

[Michael Moore]

http://www.taphophilia.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=875

http://bric.postech.ac.kr/science/97now/01_6now/010613c.html

composting sounds good to me.

cheers,
Michael

 

[Nords]

composting sounds good to me.

Uhm, when I took a composting class they said that composting herbivores would probably be OK, but not carnivores. Too much protein & fat in the compost messes up the decomposition bacteria. When it shifts from aerobic to anaerobic you can tell from a long ways downwind.

Of course you might have to experiment with a few hundred volunteers to see if there's some optimum solution.

 

[nwsteve]

DW and I are pretty much in the cremation choice--more to spread around.
OTH, DW just saw an article on a new alternative from the Swedes--get dipped in liquid nitrogen, dropped to the payment to fragment, and the freeze dried particles are returned.
Wonder what that energy equation looks like?
nwsteve

 

[Martha]

Uhm, when I took a composting class they said that composting herbivores would probably be OK, but not carnivores. Too much protein & fat in the compost messes up the decomposition bacteria. When it shifts from aerobic to anaerobic you can tell from a long ways downwind.

Of course you might have to experiment with a few hundred volunteers to see if there's some optimum solution.

This reminds me of a book I read as a child about living in communist China shortly after the revolution. I read about people fertilizing fields with human waste. I thought they meant dead people.