Document text
43 °F Forecast | Road Cams Sunday, October 10, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Rogue Valley's Finest EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend September 26, 2004 When somebody dies ... Behind the scenes of this vast system By BILL VARBLE Mail Tribune We don’t like to think about death, yet it is a universal fact of life. We’re all touched by death at some point in our lives, and we all die. When somebody dies in Jackson County, the workings of a vast system are set into motion. Today the Mail Tribune begins a seven-day series that looks at that system and the people who work within it. With blind equanimity, the system provides somebody to do the hair and makeup of the deceased for an open coffin display, or somebody to turn the body into a few pounds of sand-like ash. Here are the people who determine the cause of death, collect the bodies, clean up, arrange to dispose of the remains, comfort the living. In little more than a century, the rituals and minutiae of death have moved beyond the worlds of home and family and church into the world of business. Advertisement The funeral industry is a $13 billion business with a trade association and a lobbying office in Washington, D.C. The system goes far beyond the funeral. Doctors, cops, manufacturers, engravers and other tradespeople, mortuary and cemetery workers, clergy and counselors enlist modern science to pinpoint a cause of death, ship bodies to far-off locations, scatter remains at sea and much more. As in most systems, money changes hands at each step. If somebody dies outside a hospice or long-term care system, the next step is the arrival of a police officer. In slightly fewer than one death out of four, the chief deputy medical examiner will investigate. If nothing is amiss, the body is released to a mortuary. If a person dies away from home, somebody must be told. In Jackson County, Larry Blight often does the telling. Blight is a counselor for local authorities. He says the hardest part of the job is delivering the news, the best part the chance to be there for people. If the death scene requires a cleanup, the authorities call Steve Hanlin, whose firm specializes in making the physical evidence of death disappear. If the body is to be viewed, experts such as Tim Simonsen use wax and makeup to provide a life-like appearance. But the old practice of viewing — people calling to see the deceased in an open casket at his home or a funeral home — is in decline. Simonsen says only about one funeral in six now includes a viewing. He attributes the change to the skyrocketing popularity of cremation. Airlines ship corpses to be buried elsewhere. But if you want to ship Uncle George back East to the cemetery where his ancestors are buried, you’ll have to arrange for him to be taken to a larger facility than the Medford airport, which no longer ships bodies. The final resting place itself is changing, as are the accoutrements. An Ashland man who began making plain coffins — no metals, no animal glues — for kosher Jewish burials now sells them to a long list of customers. A modern-day monument maker uses computers and sandblasting to do what stone cutters once did. A woman creates custom decoupage caskets. You may soon be able to pick up a coffin at the local Costco. A tough logic comes into play when a loved one dies. Survivors face unfamiliar, expensive (average cost: more than $5,000) choices at a time of great emotional stress. A funeral home director counsels families to establish a budget and plan a funeral that best represents the life of the deceased. Pre-planning your own funeral can take this burden off of loved ones, he says. The winds of change are blowing. Today’s families face an expanding menu of options at the time of death. Until recently, few Americans were cremated. Most Oregonians — 60 percent, one of the highest rates in the nation — now choose cremation. Many say they are driven by a desire to save money, and many more by a concern for the earth and its limited land and resources. Cremation opens new options. People have their ashes scattered in favorite rivers or bays, or made into keepsake jewelry. For all its familiarity, death remains a mystery, and grief a human constant. Counselors and hospice workers and others stand ready to comfort the dying and the survivors. If there is a common denominator in their message, it seems to be that death is to be embraced. After all, it is part of life. The rites and practices around death have evolved over millennia. As today’s families create alternatives that resonate for them, there seems little doubt that life’s final chapter will continue to be marked by change. Reach reporter Bill Varble at 776-4478 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities