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Taphophilia (dot) Com...
A repository of morbid curiosities:
Thanatology and Taphophile Issues, Cemetery,
Funeral Industry and Death Related News.
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West Springfield Massachusetts: Stories Carved in Stone by Rusty Clark features information on early New England gravestone carvers with more than two hundred photos and illustrations. Please visit the Dog Pond Press website.
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Bigger caskets and plots buy families some peace of mind |
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Written by DeadGirl
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Thursday, 08 June 2006 |
By John Yantis, Tribune
June 4, 2006
New lines by casket manufacturers have been introduced to accommodate larger people. For years, there was pretty much a standard one-size-fitsall casket. It measured 6 foot, 6 inches long on the inside and 22 to 23 inches wide, said Randy Bunker, president and CEO of the Bunker Family Mortuary. Selections for larger people had to be custom-made.
“It was just last year, maybe 18 months ago, that they introduced a whole line of caskets,” he said.
One manufacturer calls its line Dimensions, and it offers 15 to 20 caskets in varying widths. Other companies offer more limited lines for the overweight. While a regular manufacturing process has helped to reduce costs, oversized caskets are still done infrequently enough that they are more expensive than regular sized ones, Bunker said.
Large people can also be a challenge when it comes to burial plots. A standard burial plot is 48 inches wide, said Bunker, who has been in the business more than 30 years.
“There have been times with oversized caskets where they have had to purchase more than one plot in order to accommodate an individual’s size,” he said. “They have re-engineered some of the outer burial receptacles, which is the vaults and things, in order to get a larger width available and still not have to go into using two spaces.”
Cremations for those who are overweight demand more time, particularly those 450 pounds or more, said Jim Ahearn, chief operating officer of Paradise Memorial Crematory, which is owned by Messinger’s Mortuary in Scottsdale.
Ahearn runs the largest crematory in the state. About six times a year he has to cremate someone larger than 700 pounds.
For those under 400 pounds, the charge is the same.
But the contract can double or triple for those who weigh more.
“We just charge extra to get back the money that we lose because we can’t do the others,” Ahearn said. “It’s not a real lot of money. If your fee is $200 to $300, it can run up to $450 or something like that.”
The crematorium and its three retorts are normally used for five to seven bodies per day. But for obese people, the crematorium can’t be used the day before because of the heat the remains generate, Ahearn said.
“We can only cremate from sunrise to sunset, so if I’m going to do . . . a 700-pound person, I’m going to do it early and I’m going to let the oven retort cool down in the morning on the previous day and let it cool down that whole day,” he said. “These retorts retain heat tremendously. These things are 18-inch of fire brick. So to cool them down takes a while.”
Bunker said there are other funeral expenses related to large people.
“Many of the buildings were not designed to be able to accommodate the larger sized caskets both getting in the doorways or being able to be in certain parts of different churches,” he said. “Sometimes the funeral coaches, by design, weren’t designed to accommodate a casket of that width.”
There are no easy answers to how big a person must be before the costs go up, Bunker said. It depends, he said, on height and build. Somebody with the overly broad shoulders might have the same challenge as someone who is overweight.
“We’re probably adapting to it better than a few years ago,” he said. “No family wants to think of their loved one as being somewhat disabled as far as choices along those lines of size. (Bigger caskets have) helped accommodate some of that, but there still is some resistance with families to want to go into an oversize situation just out of love and respect for their loved one.”
His son, Bryan Bunker, chief financial officer, said it can be difficult educating families about options. “If you don’t make the proper selections from the beginning, then you have to go back and say ‘Well, the casket that was selected isn’t large enough.’ That’s when it really gets tricky.”
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=67055
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Taphophilia?
taphophilia (taf′ō-fil′ē-ă)
ORIGIN:
From the Greek words taphos, meaning "tomb" or "sepulcher" and philia, meaning "attraction or affinity to something, in particular the love or obsession with something"
DEFINITION: 1. An excessive interest in graves and cemeteries. 2. A love or fondness for funerals, graves, and cemeteries. 3. In psychiatry, a morbid attraction to graves and cemeteries
Quote Repository
“When you have solved all the mysteries of life you long for death, for it is but another mystery of life.” Kahlil Gibran
Shirtless and Sculpted
The Men of Mortuaries 2008 Calendar is now available! All sale proceeds benefit KAMMCARES, a breast cancer foundation.
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