The "Being Buried In My Red Corvette!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Thinking back to a recent trip to Orient Beach on the island of St. Martin.  

The rugged beach on Orient Beach in St. Martin.

At the far southern end of the beach lies an area that juts off to the left and is covered with pieces of coral as well as broken pieces of shells.  Rather tough to walk upon unless you have flip-flops or sandals on your feet.  It was that particular beach that I pictured this morning when reading a story in the newspaper titled "Ashes, ashes: We all filter down."  The story told about walking along a beach on a bed of bleached and broken shells which resemble what human remains look like as they exit a crematory furnace.  Not a pleasant vision, but I can visualize it well when I remember how hard it was to walk upon that beach.  After a body is cremated the results are a collection of bone fragments which are then pulverized into a fine powder that constitutes what we commonly refer to as ashes or cremains.  

The churchyard of St. James Episcopal Church.

Both my mother and father were cremated and buried in the churchyard of the historical St. James Episcopal Church in downtown Lancaster, Pennsyl- vania.  There, on the north-east corner of the churchyard stands a monument that bears the names of those whose ashes have been buried in the churchyard.  Years ago the church decided that it needed to provide a burial place for those church members who would like to be buried in the historic churchyard.  The only option was a special garden where just ashes could be buried that would eventually decompose allowing more to be buried with them.  Both my mother and father decided it was their wish to be buried in their churchyard.  

One of the Memorial Plaques in the
St. James Memorial Garden.

My wife, Carol, and I also decided the same and years ago purchased a spot in the churchyard and our name on the memorial plaque.  As far as cremation is concerned, a crematory furnace yields about 1 cubic inch of ash per pound of flesh, so a petite, 100 pound person when cremated would generate 100 cubic inches of ash which is about the size of an ostrich egg.  A 200 pound adult would generate about a gallon of ashes.  When my father died his biodegradable container was about the size of a large shoe box while my mother's ashes were in a box about half that size.   Carol and I have had several cats cremated over the years and still have their remains in small wooden or metal containers that are about 6 inches in length and three inches square.   I can still visualize my 235 pound, 6 foot 4 inch brother carrying our mother's ashes in that small box to the churchyard behind St. James for the burial of her ashes in the Memorial Garden.  Within the past five years, cremation has just about overcome a traditional burial in a coffin.  Eventually space in graveyards will be a concern and the obvious choice in that case would be cremation.  

Four or out pet's ashes are in these containers.

The cost for burial in a cremation is consider- ably less than a traditional burial.  The article I was reading also told of being able to divide the aches between a few favorite locations rather than burying them all in the same location.  I would love to have some of my ashes buried on my favorite Caribbean island of St. Martin with the remaining ashes buried at St. James Churchyard.  Probably not going to happen since it would require Carol to make a trip to the island without me which would be real tough for her.  Same holds true for me if I should outlive my wife.  And, I just can't see my wife having my ashes on the coffee table that I made which sits in the living room filled with shells from our many vacations.  She would need a special vessel to hold my ashes, but with the advent of 3D printed burial urns, who knows what I might be buried in.  A replica of my 1987 red Corvette would really be neat.  Now, I might have to talk to her about that.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.