So Tell Me ... About Alternatives to Traditional Burial Scenarios

[59GS]

My wife and I are in our mid 60's raising 3 of our grand children and want to arrange some of the more unpleasant and expensive final details to even further spoil them.

Please share with us how you have handled or plan to handle the burial issue. I have a 1 pm appointment today with a rep from the Neptune Society. I'll post a report on that later today. What alternatives exist for the traditional way and services like NS? Thanks for the help y'all.

[recycled sixtie]

My wife and I will both be cremated and ashes sprinkled anywhere it is acceptable. Burial plots are expensive. Prepaying I think is questionable . My mother in the UK has prepaid but I know we will be scrambling to find the paperwork when she passes on. On the other hand if it is not prepaid the funeral directors try and sell u all kinds of fancy stuff when u are emotionally drained. Certainly not a fun time. I like going to weddings better than funerals. I wonder why?LOL

[peppy]

I know this is opposite of what others may think, but when mom died I felt we were finally able to do something for her.

Making those final decisions for her funeral, picking a casket, flowers, hymns, and grave maker where all very hard, but I am glad we had the chance to do it. Maybe for me it was part of the closure and healing.

[notmytarga]

Somewhere I have a document that says something like:
My ashes will be mixed in a 5 gallon glass carboy with the remains of the homebrewed beer judged to be the best by those attending my wake and poured onto the ground under a canopy of trees.

Very likely my wife would ignore this and put me in a casket. More likely that there wouldn't be any of my IPA or Porter left and my friends would use Bud.

[Zeke]

I think any local funeral business can handle things the way Neptune does. When my dad passed, I called the local place and told them at what hospital he was and they handled it from there to the urn. At the time ('92) it was under a grand.

We buried him at sea, but that wasn't cheap to charter the boat. I'll never know why we did that, he didn't give a crap about the ocean, never owned a boat and didn't serve in the military. But there he is, 3 miles offshore. Or was. The ashes drift away.

[azasadny]

Talk to David (Targa911S), he has THE BEST alternative to burial I've ever heard of!!

[genrex]

My mother's parents are "buried" on Mt Rainier. We hired a private pilot who is experienced at scattering ashes from his small airplane. I think it's technically illegal to scatter ashes in national parks and in lakes and rivers, so it's a hush-hush thing, but as long as it's done quietly and respectfully, nobody seems to mind. As a family, we scattered my father's ashes in the Spokane River (per his request), and a nice young man approached us and said "Are you chumming?" and we stopped and smiled, and told him what we were doing. He was embarrassed and he blushed beet red, so we all gave him a hug.

_

[Erakad]

Timely questions, and one I haven't solved. I'm happy with a mortar and a cool firework, but the wife isn't having it. I don't need the cemetery and plaque (I have plenty), because ultimately it becomes more rubbish. A vikings funeral sounds great (love the idea of a boat, flaming arrow and burning), but I won't be living near the ocean. Dilemma....what to do, what to do...cremation, scatter ashes....where????

I guess I'm no farther along than you....

[widebody911]

WARNING: Not for the squeamish

Burial on the Ganges

[rouxroux]

My ashes wI'll be scattered around Nurburgring.

[WolfeMacleod]

Well, you could have yourself mummified, then placed in a glass case in the living room, to watch over them for all time.

Personally, if I were cremated, I want my ashes mixed into a batch of Alnico magnetic material, and made into guitar pickups.
And some to be forged into the steel of a sword, as well, since swordmaking was my first profession.

[intakexhaust]

Just yesterday attended a wake / funeral for a 94 year old, served state side WW2 Army Air Corp. (back then just graduated from college and then enlisted). Nicely done. Outside funeral ceremony under a tent rainy day. Pine box and cased. No embalming neccesary as he was buried within 48 hrs. of expiring. Air Force Color Guard played Taps and Gun Salute, flag presentation to the eldest son. Family and friends get together at the family home, food and drink. All good.

[BeyGon]

My mom and dad were scattered off the coast of Corona del Mar. I used to want my ashes scattered around the Ascot race track but it's gone so I told my wife she should take them with her and the new boyfriend to scatter on the beaches they visit.

[azasadny]

I want my ashes scattered at a beach from a Folger's coffee can. Everyone must be wearing bowling shirts!

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by azasadny

I want my ashes scattered at a beach from a Folger's coffee can. Everyone must be wearing bowling shirts!

Just be careful which way the wind is blowing...

[rusnak]

I prefer a funeral pyre of logs, upon the far moon of Endor.

[azasadny]

[Moses]

This is where I scattered my mom's ashes. She loved this place. Also, there was a sign saying not to cross the fence. So I did. And mom is there forever. She would love that. She was a rule breaker with a healthy disrespect for authority.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by BeyGon

My mom and dad were scattered off the coast of Corona del Mar. I used to want my ashes scattered around the Ascot race track but it's gone so I told my wife she should take them with her and the new boyfriend to scatter on the beaches they visit.

Just have someone take them to one of the planter boxes at the industrial complex that sits on turn 1.

[Joe Bob]

Blowing yerself up with a busload of jihadist going to day camp works for me.....