What Happens When We Die?
(As published in The Dead Beat, 2013, issue 4)What happens when we die? There probably is no other question that has perplexed the human race as this one has. We know death happens – and those of us in...
View ArticleCANA Centennial Feature: Simplification: The Cremation Movement Since the 1960s
(As published in the Cremationist of North America, Volume 49, Issue 4) As we trace the history of cremation in America for this series of articles, it becomes clear that cremation now is not what...
View ArticleAmerica's First Modern Cremation
The LeMoyne CrematoryWashington, Pennsylvania(Engler Cremation Collection)It is appropriate to note that 137 years ago today America's first modern cremation took place in the LeMoyne Crematory in...
View ArticlePurely Personal
"What urn would a 'loyal cremationist' choose for his own remains?" I don't know that I have ever been asked that question. In all the years I have studied cremation and its history, the vast styles of...
View ArticleThe Indianapolis Crematory
One of the earliest funeral directing companies in the US to support cremation and to build the necessary facilities to offer its service was the firm of Flanner & Buchanan in Indianapolis,...
View ArticleThe Cincinnati Cremation Company
One of the earliest cities in America to adopt cremation was Cincinnati. This was largely due to the support of some prominent citizens of the city, one of which was Benn Pittman, noted stenographer...
View ArticleThrowback Thursday: Gorham Bronze Urns
A 1991 ad for Gorham Bronze Urns: "The Reassuring Choice." #tbt #throwbackthursday
View ArticleThe 3rd Operating Crematory in Texas: Brookside Chapel of Chimes
Nestled in the beautiful native trees of Brookside Memorial Park in Houston, Texas, sits a beautiful native stone structure which is known as the Brookside Chapel of Chimes. It is reported that the...
View ArticleThe Cremationist's Perspective
"In place of the grave is the open niche, with its beautiful urn, the sacred and permanent abiding place of the pure cremated remains of those who have gone before. Those who have disposed of their...
View ArticleThrowback Thursday: The Second Meeting of the Cremation Association of America
Attendees of the second annual meeting of the Cremation Association of America, held in Indianapolis, Indiana, September 3-4, 1914. Dr. Hugo Erichsen, founder of the Cremation Association, is just...
View ArticleThe Cremationist's Perspective: Clifford F. Zell, Sr.
From "My Heart Grew Rich That Day"by the Missouri Crematory & Columbarium(Author's Collection)
View ArticleAntique & Unique Cremation Urns
I am beginning a new series of posts showing Antique and Unique Cremation Urns as seen in my personal collection and as encountered on my visits to historic crematories and columbaria across the US....
View ArticleThe Louisville Crematorium
In 1937, the Eastern Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky, constructed the first cremation chamber in their state in the basement of their office building facing Baxter Avenue. In 1957 the crematory was...
View ArticleThrowback Thursday: Meierjohan-Wengler-200-Plus
In 1985, the Cremation Association of North America conducted an urn-capacity study, the results of which suggested that the average volume of cremated remains for an adult was 200 cubic inches. In...
View ArticleDid you know? The CAA Badge
When the Cremation Association of America was founded in 1913, members received a unique badge with a medallion depicting a torch encircled by the Association's name. Above was a banner with the city...
View ArticleThe Cremationist's Perspective: Dr. Hugo Erichsen
"Best of all - in my opinion - is the entombment of the urn in a modern columbarium where it is safe from the erosive effect of the weather and the relentless tooth of time cannot mar its contour or...
View ArticleUrns & Outs: Solidarity & Support
(As published for the Summer 2014 edition of "Urns & Outs" in The Dead Beat Magazine) It has been my experience that opponents of cremation have often been the initiators of any number of...
View ArticleAntique and Unique Cremation Urns
A beautiful turn of the century urn, this one dated 1903, and found at the Missouri Crematory in St. Louis.
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