Crist Mortuary Apologizes for Dropping Casket

Responding to a lawsuit’s allegations that Crist Mortuary employees dropped the casket of a 20-year-old Boulder High School graduate on the day of his funeral, letting his body roll onto the pavement, the mortuary’s general manager apologized. “We made a mistake,” said Michael Greenwood, who is named as a defendant in the lawsuit along with [...]

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Exclusive: First Look at Batesville’s Burial Vault Graveside Set Up

Last December we reported that Batesville Casket Company (parent company Hillenbrand) bought the Goria Burial Vault company. We also reported in July that Batesville ran job ads on CareerBuilder.com and in local Cincinnati, Ohio and Louisville, Kentucky newspapers looking for Diver/Burial Vault Sales Representative, confirming speculation that Batesville was planning to service their own burial [...]

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Cemetery Charging Visitors for Leaving Gifts?

I can only imagine the craziness of Forest Lawn Cemetery since the death of Michael Jackson, but charging visitors for leaving gifts? With the cremation rate rapidly rising I guess Forest Lawn is grabbing the “bull by the horns” and carving out a whole new revenue stream. From JumpOff.tv: It’s gonna cost Michael Jackson fans [...]

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Batesville Casket Raises Patent Infringement Claims

The biggest casket manufacturer in the country is hoping an investigation will close the lid on what it alleges is patent infringement by a Mexican importer. The United States International Trade Commission in Washington is investigating whether a company called Ataudes Aguilares of Guadalajara, Mexico, violated trade laws by importing knockoffs of casket designs patented [...]

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Going Out With a Bang, Man’s Ashes Scattered By Fireworks?

Tom Moore was a man who loved fireworks. And like all fireworks fans he was a fan of July 4. When he died in May at the age of 70, his wife Ann and friends at Santore & Sons Fireworks decided on an original way to mark his passing: he would be cremated and his [...]

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Jam Made from Princess Diana’s Hair Up for Sale?

There are many different things that can be done with the hair/DNA or ashes of a loved one. It is very common now to take a hair from a loved one and grow a diamond from their DNA. But making a jam from someone’s hair? That seems a little…well different. Jam Made from Princess Diana’s Hair [...]

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Funeral Director Involved in Body Parts Ring, Denied Parole

Former Newark mortician Stephen K. Finley, one of several New Jersey funeral directors implicated in a multi-state ring that trafficked in stolen body parts for medical transplant, has lost his first attempt at parole. Finley, who has served just over a year of his five-year prison term, will be eligible for parole again in 17 [...]

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Stiffing the Dead: How the Pentagon Blew Memorial Day

Guest Post – Memorial Day is trumpeted as a day “to honor the memory of America’s Fallen.” But rather than live up to that lofty goal, the Pentagon routinely falls short, lapsing into cosmetic rituals and empty rhetoric with volleys of ceremonial gunshots followed by volleys of commemorative clichés. In public speeches, editorials and the [...]

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Army Correcting Problems at Arlington National Cemetery

Fixing incorrectly marked and improperly located graves and designing a new and effective management structure has been the priority at Arlington National Cemetery since the Army announced earlier this month it had been neglected for years. On Wednesday, Secretary of the Army John McHugh is expected to tell a House panel that the new management [...]

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FTC Approves SCI Application to Sell 23 Properties to Foundation Partners

The Federal Trade Commission has approved a proposal by the largest U.S. funeral services provider, Service Corporation International, to sell 23 funeral homes, cemeteries, and combined funeral home-cemeteries in order to resolve competition concerns raised by SCI’s acquisition of Keystone North America, Inc. Under SCI’s proposal, which was approved by the FTC following a public comment period, [...]

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