Crematorium Field Trip

Alyssa and I went on a field trip, here is her write-up and some photos! 

Recently, I had the opportunity to tour a Funeral Home in Longview, WA.  My mom has five relatives buried at Longview Memorial Park (LMP).  Through a series of interactions with staff worker Susan Sherwin, we were offered the chance to learn more about the behind the scenes.  A memorial park is designed to look like a park, with flat headstones and benches, making the place of the dead more obscure.   Cemeteries have upright stones and are easily identifiable as such.  We jumped at the unusual opportunity.  Susan was a wonderful hostess and tour guide, showing us the funeral planning process, end to end. 

We began the tour in the Funeral Home, learning what happens first when a person passes away.  One question people often ask when it comes to choosing a box for their dead is the difference between a coffin and a casket.  A casket has six sides and is the appropriate term used for the human burial vessel.  Whereas, a coffin has eight sides, resembles the human body shape, and is commonly referred to as what vampires sleep in!  There are many different options available when it comes to choosing a casket and customizing it.  They can be made from wood, metal, fiberglass, and as simple as press wood, or cardboard.  Corner ornaments or fabric inlays depending add variety and personalization to tell the story of the deceased. 

The dead have all sorts of ways to live on through family keepsakes.  Cremains are not only kept in urns on fireplace mantels, now there are locket necklaces made for carrying around the dead and other pocketsize mini-urns.  Cremains is the correct word for burned human remains.  We saw a variety of urn styles to choose from, all which can be customized or duplicated for multiple family members.  Families are able to pick a theme and carry that throughout the funeral planning process.  For example if the deceased’s name was Lily, a Lily flower can be used as the casket ornament, on the front of the memory book, used as the art work on the front of the funeral program, and even etched on the headstone which is what we did for our great aunt Lillie.  In Remembrance pamphlets are also an option and usually end up in old family bibles as keepsakes.  We have come across them in our family history efforts, as we perform a lot of genealogy work.  

Veterans are extended military privileges, paid for by the United States government.  This has to be arranged in advance of the person passing away.  They are given a time-lasting military headstone worth about $1400 and there are special ceremonies that honor the service person. 

At the Crematorium, we were introduced to Lloyd Smith, the man in charge of the cremation process.  You’d never know he was 72 years old because he is fit and healthy, which makes it easy to see his respect for the human body.  He even has workout equipment in his large workspace.  He showed us step by step how the entire procedure is performed.  First, the body has to be transported from the Mortuary which can be as simple as using a mini-van and a long cardboard box.  He is very precise in his tracking of information to ensure that he never mixes up personal information with the body he is working on.  He also tracks the time spent through the process and finds it interesting to see the average age of the bodies he sees, especially those that die from smoking.  When we arrived, Oscar, age 59, was in the chamber.  He died early in life from smoking and we discussed what a waste it was for a human life when it is preventable.  Mr. Smith opened the chamber door and we were able to see Oscar under the flames.  I didn’t want to look, but my mom did and said she was surprised to see that even after two hours, the skeleton was still in the shape of a human.  As the bodies move through the process, they carry with them a metal I.D. tag to assist in the tracking of the person.

The chamber is extremely hot, with two flames positioned over the sternum and the legs.  The optimum temperature is about 1,400 degrees, burning the body for 3 hours.  The mortician is on point to check all bodies for pace makers, but occasionally they miss the small device.  Lloyd double checks each body, as these are the one and only object that can’t be placed in the machine.  They explode and could damage or ruin the expensive machine.  It’s only happened a few times, but the boom is so loud, Lloyd ran for cover when it happened the first time. 

During the three hour process, Lloyd must use a long pole to occasionally stoke the fire, re-positioning the human parts under the flame.  Once Oscar was done burning, the cremains left were mostly just bone.  Despite the hot temperature, by divine design indeed, God made it so that our bones can’t burn, no matter how hot.  This is miraculous to me.  Oscar’s bones were moved to a long stainless steel tray to cool for one hour.  This allows Lloyd time to clean the chamber.  He is known for being very thorough in his cleaning process between each body, never mixing the cremains of two people. 

He prepared the chamber for the body of Agnes, age 94, who was overweight.  He mentioned that body fat doesn’t burn as nice and clean as muscle, making for a bit messier process overall.  When the cremains are pulled out of the chamber, what is left is mostly bone, still quite large and recognizable, and not fit for an urn or keepsake.  After they are cooled, they are put into a bone grinder creating the “ash” as we know it.  Often we think of cremains in an urn to be flaky like the ash of a fireplace, but in fact, they are more like chunky sand bits.   

We asked Susan and Lloyd what they desire for their body once they pass away as they are the experts dealing with the dead each and every day.  Surprisingly, they do not desire to be cremated and have pre-purchased space in the mausoleum on site.  This is a building that holds casket and urn sized crypts.  On the front of each crypt is a shrine-like display area which family members can update as they like with new photos, fresh flowers, or other mementos.  This makes the visiting experience more personal to the family members and allows them to honor their deceased, while being protected from the weather.

Recently, a family decided to cremate a body that was being held in the mausoleum for over 30 years.  The son wanted to have both his parents in an urn together and move them to his Seattle home.   Naturally, Lloyd would be able to open the sealed casket prior to burning both box and body.  Once a casket has had a body in it, it is of no use to anyone else ever, so they might as well burn it with the body inside.  We asked about what the body looked like after 30 years in an air-tight container.  He confirmed that the seal had preserved the body as expected and described the body as a skeleton frame with just a thin papery skin covering it, still completely intact. 

We enjoyed the tour with Susan and Lloyd very much.  It was wonderful to have such thorough and enthusiastic hosts.  It was a unique opportunity to learn from their experiences and work.  We have been invited to return and see the Mortuary, located just down the road from the park. Having shared this experience with my grandmother, she wants the entire tour.  It’s all very intriguing to my mother and grandmother.  I have to admit though, the question this whole experience has led me to consider is; Will I choose to be buried six feet under, placed into an above ground crypt, or reduce my body to the bone grinder?  I’m guess you now have the same question after reading about my tour!