Dancing in the Aisles

http://www.jitterbuzz.com/frankie.html# 

Many people today feel that funeral services are not important or meaningful to them.  What is wonderful about rituals like funeral services though, is that they are not set in stone.  They can be adapted to pay tribute to what was important to the deceased, and what is meaningful to their survivors.

Dancing in the aisles of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, mourners in 2009 paid tribute to "Dean of the Lindy Hoppers", Frankie Manning.  This was a delightful mix of old and new, remembering the church roots as well as the lifelong passion of a remarkable man.

For more on the five day long celebrations, visit jitterbuzz.com

  

Funeral Home Facilitates Incredible Lego Casket for 10 Year Old Boy

An inspiring story from the Siskiyou Daily News:

A custom-designed and custom-made Lego casket – it is adorned with 26,000 Lego pieces – sits at the Fort Jones Cemetery Saturday morning just prior to young Dylan Frick’s memorial service.

Jamie Nowdesha, a funeral counselor and personal secretary at Girdner Funeral Chapel in Yreka, was instrumental in moving the month-and-a-half-long project to construct a casket for Dylan adorned with 26,000 Lego pieces along. She made the original call to the Lego organization and was the contact person for the casket manufacturer and the Lego artist who designed and created the Lego outer shell.

for the full article, visit Siskiyou Daily News
thanks to Jeff Jorgenson for the lead

Making Cemeteries Relevant: Part 2, Innovation in Toronto

9/6/09

In recent years, more and more families have chosen to scatter their cremated remains in scenic or meaningful spots because a cemetery was not the kind of place they wanted to place them or visit them. The gothic rows of markers and monuments are no longer relevant to many families.They have become reminders of death when families want reminders of life. Even those who still make use of the traditional cemetery don’t often spend much time there after the burial.

Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto

Unfortunately, something very important has been lost in this transition, and most of us don’t even realize what we’re missing. We need a place to come to for comfort during difficult times, to mark special occasions, to feel a connection, and often, to maintain a relationship and dialogue with our loved ones. When that place is accessible, and comfortable for us, we develop a connection with the place that strengthens the connection we have with our loved one. The challenge for cemeteries today, is to provide the kind of environment and features that will not only meet the needs of families when death occurs, but bring them back again and again to maintain the connection with their loved one.

This is what Norris Zucchet and his team have accomplished at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto. When Mr. Zucchet came on board as CEO of this Cemetery organization, he faced two serious challenges, his flagship cemetery was running out of room (it was projected that there was only room enough for a few more years of burials), and the cemetery was not a place that interested the fastest growing segment of his market. Similar challenges are faced by many funeral homes and cemeteries, but unlike most, the Mount Pleasant team did their homework. They conducted extensive research to determine what options and features would appeal to their customer base, and brought in new ideas and techniques from other industries. By truly listening to families and finding ways to serve them better, they were able to make their cemetery relevant. They created the kind of environment that reminds families of life, nature and the spirit of their loved ones. Not only that, they were able to extend the lifespan of their cemeteries and transform underutilized space into highly sought after areas for the burial, interment and scattering of cremated remains.

Cremation Garden

The cremation garden at Mount Pleasant incorporates many features that were researched and market tested by Mr. Zucchet's team. It offers many different options for interment and memorialization. Research showed that the families in Toronto want this kind of variation, serenity and liveliness. Landscape architects and contractors used ideas and techniques from residential projects and other disciplines in creating this inviting space. The water features, natural beauty, and intimate areas are a sharp contrast to the traditional cemetery design. This is the kind of environment that brings families to the cemetery and encourages them to come back again.

Memorial plaques are incorporated into the railing.

The Mount Pleasant team remained flexible as they implemented their designs. A code mandated bridge railing was transformed by the addition of memorial plaques. Many families, who have scattered cremated remains in a distant place, find that they need a setting like this where they can visit and connect with their loved one. The plaques are a response to this need.

Conservatory

Market research determined that families wanted indoor and outdoor options throughout the seasons. This conservatory incorporates columbarium niches into the pillars that support the vented glass roof. Even during the harsh Ontario winters, it is a place filled with warmth, light and life.

While many of the options, such as the conservatory, are unique to Mount Pleasant, similar ideas are taking root other leading cemeteries. In fact, the Mount Pleasant team visited many innovative cemeteries all over North America before putting their plan together. What I find most noteworthy, though, is that they didn't just see some great ideas and incorporate them into a design - they gave their community choices and asked them what they wanted. This is the approach that is often missing from funeral service and cemeteries; listening.

Tastes and customs change. One family will have different ideas from the next. One region will follow different traditions than another. However, when we make the effort to listen and respond with creativity and compassion, we will always remain relevant to the families we serve.

To read Part 1 of this series, visit

http://www.dailyundertaker.com/2009/06/blog-post.html

For more information on the Mount Pleasant Group of Cemeteries, visit

http://www.mountpleasantgroupofcemeteries.ca/

Making Cemeteries Relevant: Part 1, Feng Shui in Minnesota

The gate to the Garden of Eternal Peace at Sunset Cemetery in Minneapolis, MN

Not that long ago, cemeteries were built in the centers of towns and cities. They were visited often by devoted relatives, and weekend picnickers. They were cared for by groundskeepers and relatives alike, and were valued for their park-like settings and interesting monuments. Today, the relevance of cemeteries to the lives of many Americans has decreased markedly. To many, they are seen as a waste of space, or worse, as a depressing reminder of our mortality.

Much of this is due to the denial of death that has taken over our culture. We pretend that death won’t happen, and when it does, we avoid viewing our loved ones and avoid dealing with the difficult reality of the situation by concentrating on celebrations of life and the happy times.

Feng Shui Consultant, Andrew Hong

For cemeteries, this is only half of the problem. In many cases, only token measures have been taken to address changing tastes and values. Cemeteries are seen by new generations as gloomy, depressing places that don’t reflect the spirit or values of their loved ones. People today want a setting that reminds them of life and happiness, and that reflects their culture and values, not row upon row of uniform markers or the gothic tragedies of elaborate monuments. To see how uncomfortable even the people who bury in cemeteries are with the prevailing mood of the places, just look at the increasing harvest of plastic doo-dads and gew-gaws that cemeteries must harvest from their tidy rows every spring, or the bold modern monuments that look like a granite T-shirt, and feature everything from engraved portraits to farm scenes, to race cars. Look at the memorials people make on the highway for those who die in car accidents. They are full of teddy bears and flags and sparkly pin-wheels. Many skip the cemetery altogether and scatter ashes in mountain lakes or other vacation spots. They have often been told by their loved ones to keep them away from the gloomy cemetery. They want to rest in a place that they would feel comfortable and full of life.

The families who scatter miss out on having a permanent spot to visit, however. Sometimes the mountain path becomes a strip mall, or the spot on the river cannot be found again after old trees fall and new ones grow. As a person who values cemeteries and recognizes the need for permanent memorialization, I’m pleased to say that there are some innovators out there who are making cemeteries relevant to the needs and values of today’s consumers. In this first installment on Cemetery Innovators, the new Chinese section at Sunset Cemetery in Minneapolis is highlighted. The cemetery has used the ancient principles of Feng Shui to make a new section appealing to the area's growing Asian demographic. Chinese cemeteries are certainly nothing new, but they are new to the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. The driving concepts behind the creation of this section apply to any cemetery innovation; one size no longer fits all, find a growing segment of your population, and create an area that appeals to their values.

The Chinese Cemetery in Victoria, BC, was also designed in accordance with the principles of Feng Shui

Named the Garden of Eternal Peace, the new section at Sunset Cemetery was the brainchild of Funeral Director, Scot Werkmeister, and designed with the help of Feng Shui expert, Andrew Hong. Following is an excerpt from today’s Minnesota Public Radio story about the Garden of Eternal Peace by Laura Yuen.

The Garden of Eternal Peace is in some ways unremarkable. Not even an acre large, the site's entrance is marked by a simple gate made of two wooden pillars and a modest roof. But this land is slightly higher than the rest of the cemetery, making it an ideal burial spot for followers of feng shui. Consultant Andrew Hong says the space offers a commanding location for both the living and the dead. "You're on higher ground. So imagine the people buried -- they will feel very secure and safe." Safe, Hong says with a smile, from evil spirits. He's placed every object carefully, from the entry gate to a foot bridge, which he says gives negative energy a way out of the burial site.

Sunset Cemetery officials say the garden is the first in the Twin Cities to be designed according to these ancient principles. But Asian families in Minnesota already practice feng shui when scouting for areas across the state for the perfect burial spot. Many Hmong and Vietnamese families have been known to favor a certain Maplewood cemetery because it's surrounded by hills -- the better to protect the deceased.

Offerings at a Chinese Monument

It may sound strange to segregate the dead by building ethnic "neighborhoods" right into cemeteries, but people in the industry say it's no different than creating special sections for Masons or war veterans. "It's easy for the dead," Hong said. "They can communicate with each other. They don't have to travel. Sometimes it's all in our manmade imagination. But you cannot fight tradition. If tradition believes in that, we better believe in it, too."

Inside the cemetery offices, Scot Werkmeister, a funeral director who oversees Sunset Cemetery and several others owned by Dignity Memorial, flips through a catalog of custom granite markers that Sunset has begun to offer. They're meant to appeal to Asian consumers. Some of the headstones come in the shape of little pagodas. Most are upright, and come with a mantle that where offerings of incense or bowls of food can rest.

Werkmeister says he wanted to build the garden at Sunset after a trip to California, where cemeteries have developed special areas where Asian families could show their heritage and traditions.

For the full article, visit Minnesota Public Radio