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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!
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Guardians of the Soul: Angels and Innocents, Mourners and Saints, Indiana's remarkable cemetery sculpture
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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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When Somebody Dies ... a growing practice |
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Written by DeadGirl
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Sunday, 10 October 2004 |
By MARK FREEMAN
Saving money and space on earth are the two most common reasons Americans are increasingly choosing cremation over the traditional burial, according to a national survey by the cremation industry.
"It’s a dignified, low-cost alternative to the traditional funeral," says David Koach, executive director of the Oregon Mortuary and Cemetery Board, which licenses and inspects crematories and mortuaries.
The Cremation Association of North America surveyed the families of more than 124,000 cremated people in the late 1990s. The results showed that people who chose cremation were wealthier and more educated and died at a later age than average Americans.
Cremations can cost as little as $500 to more than $2,000, though the national average is about $1,200. The cost of a funeral runs from $3,000 to $6,000 on average.
"Cremation has gone from something for the wealthy to something for everyone," CANA Executive Director Jack Springer says.
Cremation, Springer says, is almost always at the wishes of the deceased.
"You don’t cremate mom unless she wants to be cremated," he says.
The survey showed that 25 percent of cremations were cost-driven, with 17 percent motivated by consideration for the environment.
Only 3 percent of cremations were done specifically so the remains could be dispersed, though 24 percent ended up with the remains scattered, according to the survey.
Springer says almost 700,000 people were cremated nationwide last year. That number is expected to double by 2025.
Cremation rates nationally have increased steadily since the Catholic Church stopped frowning on cremation in the early 1960s, but the rate differs per country and region.
Britain’s cremation rate is more than 70 percent. Japan’s is 98 percent. Vancouver Island, Canada — which recently hosted the CANA convention — has a 96 percent cremation rate.
Oregon averages about 31,000 deaths annually, and Koach estimates the current cremation rate at more than 60 percent.
The Northwest’s more transitory population, less active church connections and other factors are likely behind the trend, industry leaders say.
Cremation is less common in the deep South. In Alabama the rate is less than 5 percent, the lowest in the country.
Influenced by Southern Baptist beliefs, Alabama families still treat cremation more as taboo than alternative.
"They whisper it around town, like they have cancer," Koach says. "Oregon’s not like that."
Cremation survey
The Cremation Association of North America surveyed family members of more than 124,000 people cremated in the United States during 1996-97. Here is what the association found:
Age: The median age of a cremated person was 74 years old.
Race: 88 percent of people cremated were white, 6 percent black, 3 percent Asian and 3 percent Hispanic.
Religious affiliation: 58 percent were Protestant, 26 percent Catholic, 11 percent Buddhist, 3 percent Jewish, and 2 percent Hindu.
Cremation container: 16 percent were placed in a casket, 3 percent in a body bag or wrapping, 1 percent in no container and 80 percent in an alternative container.
Disposition of remains: 41 percent were taken to a cemetery, 36 percent taken home to be kept or scattered later, 18 percent scattered as directed outside of a cemetery, and 5 percent not picked up from the crematory.
Directed locations for scattered remains: 73 percent over water, 27 percent over land.
Percentage of cremations in which the remains were scattered: 24.
Service prior to cremation: 33 percent yes, 67 percent no.
Memorial service after cremation: 44 percent yes, 56 percent no.
http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2004/0930/local/stories/03local.htm |
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