|
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.
|
|
Funeral home must apologise |
|
|
|
|
Written by DeadGirl
|
|
Saturday, 17 July 2004 |
15 July 2004
by VANESSA PHILLIPS
A Blenheim funeral company was "naive" and "morally wrong" in its handling of an elderly man's funeral, and has been ordered to apologise to the man's family by the Funeral Directors Association of New Zealand.
The family of the late Ronald Smith, of Blenheim, said today they felt Cloudy Bay Funeral Services had breached their trust when Mr Smith's casket was swapped for a cheaper model after his funeral on April 8, and when his cremation failed to go ahead as planned.
"We feel that there has been a breach of trust that we had with Cloudy Bay and we also feel that it robbed our father of his dignity," Mr Smith's daughter-in-law Sharyn Smith said.
Cloudy Bay Funeral Services owner and funeral director David Buckley had no comment today other than to say he had never tried to deceive anyone.
Cloudy Bay's membership to the Funeral Directors Association of New Zealand (FDANZ), which had been suspended, has been reinstated with the release of the association's findings.
Both police and FDANZ investigated Mr Buckley's actions after the Smith family complained that their father's rimu veneer casket was changed to a cheaper customwood model before it arrived for cremation at Sowman's crematorium, without their knowledge or approval.
Mr Buckley has said he transferred the 75-year-old Mr Smith into a new coffin after the original became damaged when it slipped off a trolley after the funeral.
The Smith family was also upset they were unable to travel to the crematorium to make their final farewell to Mr Smith and that there was an undue delay in cremating Mr Smith.
Blenheim CIB and the FDANZ have both found that Cloudy Bay had no intention to defraud, but the funeral association has described the company's actions as "naive".
The substituted coffin did not meet the requirements of the FDANZ's code of conduct, because it was more basic than the type of coffin which should have been used, and the association's disputes committee believed "Cloudy Bay was morally wrong not to have used an identical substitute casket".
The delay in cremating Mr Smith was due in part to the funeral being held on a Thursday afternoon before the cremator closed for Good Friday, the association said.
While the disputes committee was unable to ascertain beyond doubt whether the Smith family had arranged to attend the cremation, and Cloudy Bay had never taken a family to the crematorium before, Mrs Smith was of Maori descent and would have expected to stay with Mr Smith until his body was cremated, it said.
Cloudy Bay should have discussed the possibility of an after hours cremation with the crematorium, it said, and the Smith family should have been offered that option, even if an after hours fee applied.
The disputes committee believed a lack of communication played a significant part in the complaint.
"Mr Buckley should have told the family straight away that as the time frame for the cremation could not be met, that the cremation was to be delayed," it said. "Similarly, when the casket was damaged, Mr Buckley should have advised the family straight away."
While the Smith family had called for Cloudy Bay to receive the highest form of penalty available - expulsion from the FDANZ - and ideally not be allowed to practice funeral directing again, there was no regulation of the funeral industry in New Zealand so it was in the public interest that Cloudy Bay remain a member of the association, said FDANZ president John Duncan.
A provisional member of the FDANZ, working toward full membership, Cloudy Bay?s staff would be required to participate in ongoing professional development, and would receive guidance from an industry mentor.
Cloudy Bay Funeral Services had been ordered by the FDANZ to make a written apology to the Smith family, which Mr Buckley has undertaken to do, and to waive all of Mr Smith?s funeral costs.
Mr Buckley has also been required to enrol in the 2005 National Certificate in Funeral Directing course. "Membership is the best way to ensure the staff at Cloudy Bay meet the high standards the public expects from all funeral directors," Mr Duncan said.
Mrs Smith said the situation had caused great stress to her family - they had to formally identify Mr Smith?s body again 11 days after he died and hold a second funeral service.
However, the family wanted to move on now and would accept Mr Buckley's apology when they received it, she said.
Mr Buckley had handled Mr Smith's wife's funeral two years previously and Mr Smith had asked that Mr Buckley take his funeral too, and that he have the same type of coffin as his wife.
It had been Mr Smith's final wishes that family members accompany him to the crematorium, which Mrs Smith, her son, and daughter-in-law had planned to do.
"We had to follow through on his last wishes as that was the one thing we could do for him," Mrs Smith said. "He also requested that we make the last journey with him, so he didn't have to go on his own. We sincerely hope that with the knowledge gained from this that it never ever happens to any other family again," she said.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/marlboroughexpress/0,2106,2972972a6008,00.html
|
|
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
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” Henry David Thoreau, 1854
Shirtless and Sculpted
The Men of Mortuaries 2008 Calendar is now available! All sale proceeds benefit KAMMCARES, a breast cancer foundation.
|
