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Welcome
Taphophilia (dot) Com...
A repository of morbid curiosities:
Thanatology and Taphophile Issues, Cemetery,
Funeral Industry and Death Related News.
A Taphophilia Thank You...
Taphophilia (dot) Com would not be possible without the knowledge, experience and talent of DarkestWeb. From its conception and early development, DarkestWeb was faced with many challenges; from inspiring and motivating, to providing guidance and direction. The continued dedication and support has produced results greater than ever expected, and for this, I owe a huge debt of gratitude.
Announcements
Graveyards of Chicago:
The People, History, Art, and Lore of Cook County Cemeteries
By Matt Hucke And Ursula Bielski. Discover a Chicago That Exists Just Beneath the Surface - About Six Feet Under! Take a tour of Chicago's permanent residents! Please visit the Lake Claremont Press website to purchase your copy of Graveyards of Chicago today!
Green-Wood Cemetery Arcadia Publishing announces the release of Alexandra Mosca's historic account of one of New York's most famous cemeteries. Aracdia Publishing's Images of America series has an extensive catalog of many cemetery publications! Please visit Arcadia Publishing to purchase your copy of Green-Wood Cemetery and to browse other available titles!
Men of Mortuaries Calendar
To purchase your 2008 calendar, learn more about the KAMMCARES Foundation, or to be featured in the 2009 calendar, please visit Men of Mortuaries.
Epitaphs: The Magazine for Cemetery Lovers By Cemetery Lovers
For information regarding subscriptions, single issues, submission guidelines, deadlines, classifieds or advertising for future issues, please visit The Cemetery Club.
Guardians of the Soul: Angels and Innocents, Mourners and Saints, Indiana's remarkable cemetery sculpture
with photography by John Bower and foreword by Claude Cookman is now
available. Please visit
Studio Indiana for more information.
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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Funeral homes seek laws about unclaimed remains |
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Written by DeadGirl
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Monday, 18 April 2005 |
Funeral homes seek laws about unclaimed remains
By Noreen Gillespie, Associated Press Writer | April 18, 2005
Associated Press
HARTFORD, Conn. -- When people die and are cremated, the ashes are often buried or scattered in a meaningful place. But sometimes, they are left unclaimed.
Funeral directors say families are often too grief-stricken to take them home, forget about them or simply don't know what to do with them.
Years ago, funeral home director Rodney Bourdeau started burying unclaimed cremains in a garden, which blooms bright with red flowers each spring.
"We do celebrate human life here, so it seemed an appropriate place, rather than to just have them stored someplace or scattered someplace nobody knew," said Bourdeau, who runs the family-owned Cornell Memorial Funeral Home in Danbury.
Connecticut is among about 20 states that provide no legal guidance to funeral homes on what to do with the unclaimed ashes, or how long they must keep them.
But state lawmakers are beginning to examine the issue. A bill advancing at the Capitol would allow funeral home owners the option of storing the remains in their homes, burying them in a cemetery, or storing them in a columbarium or mausoleum if they are not claimed in 180 days.
Owners would have to make attempts to contact next-of-kin before disposing of the remains. Town clerks would also have to keep records, so that if families wanted the remains back later, they could be easily located.
"Basically, what we wanted to do is really establish a clear process that funeral directors could follow," said Rep. Janice Giegler, R-Danbury, the bill's chief proponent.
Funeral directors also hope the legislation will protect them from lawsuits.
Dan Jowdy, a funeral home director at homes in Danbury and Ridgefield, had eight sets of unclaimed remains when there was a fire at one of his homes in 1999. They were safe in a fireproof cabinet. But Jowdy wonders whether he could have been held liable if the remains had been lost.
"We're not licensed as a cemetery or columbarium or facility for permanent memorialization," said John S. Zaleski, president of the Connecticut Funeral Directors Association. "We are licensed under the Department of Public Health as a funeral establishment."
The drive for legislation was sparked primarily by a case in Danbury last year. When the Tomlinson Funeral Home was closed by the state in 2002, the owner had 87 sets of unclaimed remains. Jowdy, who also serves on the state board that oversees the funeral industry, began trying last year to contact relatives and friends of those deceased, and worked with the local paper to publish a list of those whose remains had been stored in the home.
Only 30 sets of the remains were eventually claimed. Many of the others were those of indigents, or people with no family. The city of Danbury donated land for a plot, and volunteers buried the cremated remains. The city is keeping records for any family or friends who may surface.
"They had no one to give the cremated remains," he said. "Basically, what they only could do is store them at their funeral home."
National experts say that as cremation rates across the country rise, lawmakers will have to make sure there are regulations on the books that spell out procedures. Nationally, 678,092 cremations took place in 2002, about 27 percent of all deaths. The Cremation Association of North America estimates that by 2025, 42.9 percent of all people who die will be cremated.
In Connecticut, 9,608 people were cremated in 2002, about 31 percent of those who died. That's an increase from about 25 percent in 1998, and by 2010, the cremation rate is projected to be around 42 percent of all deaths.
With more cremations, many expect more unclaimed remains.
"It is a problem that nobody's paid attention to," said Jack Springer, executive director of the Illinois-based association. "There's some 20 plus states that don't have any laws at all in regard to cremation, and more and more of those are starting to examine that their cremation rate is surpassing their burial rate."
Though many funeral directors say they want to give the ashes a final resting place outside of their storage rooms, some don't mind keeping them. Bourdeau, the Danbury owner who created the garden, only buries the ashes of the families that tell him he doesn't want them back, and he asks them to sign a waiver first.
"Families say to me at least they know where they are, and if I need to drive by and need to stop ... it's a pleasant thing to view," he said. "They have the peace of mind that they are someplace."
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On the Net:
http://www.cornellmemorial.com/
http://www.ctfda.org/index.html
http://www.cremationassociation.org/
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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
Taphophilia Facts
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The tombstone of Mel Blanc-the voice of Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig-is inscribed "That's All Folks."
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Quote Repository
“The irony of man's condition is that the deepest need is to be free of the anxiety of death and annihilation; but it is life itself which awakens it, and so we must shrink from being fully alive.” Ernest Becker
Grave Epigrams
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In the midst of life we are in death. Dedham, MA 1831 |
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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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