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My mother was cremated in a cardboard coffin. The coffin was decorated with photos etc. When she died, the Company took her out of the home and one of the old girls thought they were getting presents. The staff didn't know whether to laugh or cry as she went out the door cos we had painted a pair of feet on the end of the box. Her ashes came back in a plastic box in the post so we spread her ashes on my dads grave. Pick up, cremation and postage and coffin was less than $5k
Norseman what a classic , I had a good laugh on the seriesQuote:
Originally Posted by workingonit
better get some extra photos off other unknown i dont think they sweep all the crumbs out from the previous person out of the kilnQuote:
Originally Posted by DiscoMick
Bloody Australia Post, they get you coming into the world & they get you leaving.[smilebigeye]Quote:
Originally Posted by scottc
Now that line should be in the Joke thread.[smilebigeye][smilebigeye][smilebigeye]Quote:
No Eevo- he just gets rebooted with a new flash hard drive. Inc is a coder mate [biggrin]
I think you'll find it's pretty common for the nice timber coffin to be replaced by a cardboard box before you go up in smoke. After all, why waste a perfectly good coffin? The cardboard box might already be inside the coffin and just be lifted out for the cremation.
I remember going to one funeral at a crematorium and we were standing around having a coffee afterwards when there was a big puff of smoke out the chimney, so we all raised our glasses to toast the recently departed.
Hi,
It is a difficult mix of emotions, beliefs, attitudes and life experiences organising funerals.
The funeral staff have been pleasant, professional and sympathetic, but they are in it for a quid.
The suggested 'floral tribute' is in fact a couple of hundred dollars worth of flowers, nicely done admittedly, but despite our request for them to be spared, they ended up in the furnace.
Yes, they will take the responsibility for catering at what ever gourmet standard you wish, and print the service orders as per samples, take care of the notices in the papers, the headstone or plaque and a myriad of other legal services that are necessary, but it will cost. That is their means of making a living.
Some of the costs are legally unavoidable like identification certification and other State requirements which costs them, but they make a markup.
Other costs, like flowers,notices, casket, catering, headstones can also be contracted out and marked up for profit, if the family wants it, or can't do it them selves.
Some funerals are a family tragedy, others a relief that a loved one is no longer living in pain, or the misery that comes with being totally independent for the last 90 odd years and now not even able to feed or wash without help.
I guess we are all not wanting to be forgotten, but even a pyramid or other ornate edifices eventually give way to the sands of time, despite man's best efforts at earthly immortality.
Resistance is futile!
Cheers
Quote:
I guess we are all not wanting to be forgotten,
On that happy note..... a 1/2 day later after his demise "4bee? 4bee who?" :Rolling:
We organised our own council plaques. Not actually that expensive if you cut out the middle men.
I'll reply with a different perspective, leave something to intrigue those in the future. Being someone who likes to poke around old graveyards, one of my favourites is the grave in Tambaroora cemetary which declares that George Griffiths was killed through carelessness. It encouraged me to discover the mine that he was killed in and how it happened.
Nymagee cemetery has lots of free space and it's unlikely that come the zombie apocalypse that your headstone will be disturbed. Also your contribution to soil fertility would be appreciated by the ecosystem. I joke that that's where I would like my organic contribution to the subsoil would be but its becoming a more realistic proposition as time progresses.
I have a Grandfather who was a very interesting man with a shipwreck, the evacuation of Singapore and an OBE in his history but he has nothing to mark his contribution. I'd like to encourage someone to waste their time researching my history, like George Griffiths it may not be particularly exciting but it will be representative of a life well lived.
Regards,
Tote
Regards,
Tote
There's a grave of a little girl in the Supercheap carpark at Traralgon carpark in Victoria.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tote
A little grave restored | Latrobe Valley Express
Community members have cleaned up an old grave in a Traralgon carpark after social media brought attention to its history.
After seeing links to the history of the grave on Facebook, a group of young women tended to the grave to ensure its history will be preserved.
The grave is believed to be of Mary Smythe, who was born in 1868 and died several days later, the infant daughter of the second mounted policeman in Traralgon, Constable William O'Brien Sydney Smythe.
Prior to moving to Traralgon, the Smythes had already suffered the loss of five children and Mary was their sixth.
According to Traralgon Historical Society member John Power, the first Traralgon graveyard was at the carpark site and consisted of 12 graves.
When the railway line was to be built in the 1970s, the graves were relocated to the Traralgon Cemetery except for Mary's who was left at the request of Constable Smythe.
"By the early 1900s it deteriorated very badly, all the wood was rotted and falling down and there was a man named William Mason and he donated the money to have a proper stone and everything put around it and that little stone is the original stone," Mr Power said.
"The grave was left and kept clear and looked after by the railway people for many, many years.
"There used to be a tall poplar tree beside it so you could always find this grave.
"It's very important to maintain this because it's one of the original links back to early Traralgon."
Mr Power believed there had been an agreement after the carpark was built for the grave to be maintained.
"In the 1990s this became a new development and the president of the historical society Jim Hood had quite a battle on his hands to have this kept, he eventually succeeded," he said.
"It looks as if it's not being looked after as it should have been, I think there was an arrangement for some of the businesses here to keep it tidy.
"It would be safe to say there's probably thousands of people in Traralgon now who don't know anything about this."