Quote:
Originally Posted by sc_rufctr
Is your father still with us? He sounds like a good bloke.
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Sadly not. Died a long time ago. He retired due to cancer. When he was a couple of months from death, he went back to the funeral home and made his own casket. He didn't want to the other guys he'd spent years with getting upset while making it. He also made my mothers casket. I was a kid. I do remember it was white with hand carved and painted red roses. As I got older I imagined how hard it must have been for him to make that casket a few weeks before her death. Makes me tear up every time I think about it.
Yep...it was the late 70's, early 80's. Cheltenham Cemetery also used to get robbers back then as well. Dad used to say they'd pinch the really large headstones, and then run them through a machine and take off the engravings. They'd then have a nice clean piece of marble or granite to start again.
Just an aside. Quiet possibly one of the best things my dad did for me was calling me into his work one day. I'd just got my learners permit so I caught the bus. He said I could drive home. When I got there, he said "come with me". We went into the cold room. I was really freaked out. He called me over to a body with a sheet over it. He pulled the sheet back. It was a kid slightly older than me. Driving to fast and hit a tree. Killed instantly. I can still see that poor boys face even today. But it worked. I never really drove like an idiot. He had the families blessing to show me their broken son. I didn't know him but out of respect I attended his funeral. The devastation on his family was the thing that struck me most.