Last Rights of Central Pennsylvania
Resources and Links
For help with many of the issues related to funerals and planning, there are brochures that can be downloaded in PDF format from http://www.funerals.org/faq/index.htm.
Drawing the Circle (PDF) by Laurie L. Mulvey
This is a short, inspiring story that explains how the author got involved in home funerals at a relatively young age. It is both engaging and useful for the concise information it provides.
Caring for the Dead, Your Final Act of Love by Lisa CarlsonThis is a state-by-state handbook detailing consumer rights for every state and is available here
Before I Go, You Should Know Every adult American should have one of these in the freezer— an end-of-life planning kit. Comes in a plastic button-tie pouch with state-specific Living Will and other advance medical directives, plus a 16-page write-in booklet. Contains the brochure "Death Away from Home," a directory of U.S. funeral consumer groups, and a checklist of other important documents to store here (like military discharge papers). Order two for a couple.
Grave Matters by Mark Harris
This book is a concise exploration of the modern funeral industry and it is a practical guide to help Americans get to the grave in a more natural way. It is available here. For more on Mark Harris and his book, check out his blog
Undertaken with Love: A Home Funeral Guide for Congregations and Communities is intended for congregational committees that form to support home funerals for their members, pastors and other spiritual leaders contemplating a home funeral ministry, secular social groups that form to support home funerals for their members, and the families themselves.
Available as a PDF file, in a study guide format, for six weekly or monthly self-training sessions, Undertaken With Love describes how to start a home funeral committee; how to research and identify your legal rights, options and responsibilities; how to handle, bathe and transport the body; and how to sustain an effective home funeral committee.
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Click here for articles on Death Care and related topics.
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Decorative Cremation Urns and Memorial Objects Shine On Brightly helps you memorialize your loved one with utmost reverence, offering artist-created vessels for cremation remains, and distinctive memorial art pieces which honor and celebrate each unique spirit. They believe that art has the power to heal, to unite, and to express feeling when words sometimes can’t be found.
Penn Forest Natural Burial Park
Friends Cemetery in Stormstown:
The Friends Cemetery is located near Stormstown just off Halfmoon Valley Rd. (map above) is located a few miles southwest of Stormstown. It is near the road, on the right hand side if you are headed northeast from Altoona. A few years ago the cemetery board voted to permit "green" burial, with the body wrapped in a simple shroud if desired and without embalming. The only stipulation is that the top of the burial container or shroud must be no less than four feet below the ground surface. The cost of a burial plot is just $150. If you would like to arrange a visit to see the cemetery and find out what plots are available, you should call the board president, Tom Hall, at 814-692-8778 .
The Human Gifts Registry is a non-profit agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania concerned primarily with the receipt and distribution of bodies donated to all medical and dental schools for teaching purposes. The Registry, formerly called the Anatomical Board, has been in existence since 1883. Contact the recommended funeral director for Centre County (Mark Heintzelman) at 814-364-1412.
Final Passages is a non-profit model program in California run by Jerrigrace Lyons who helps families to create a home or family-managed funeral. Final Passages can offer advice and seminars for those who wish to care for their own deceased loved ones or to help others as a home funeral guide. Since 1995, Jerrigrace and her associates have assisted with over 240 home funerals.
Crossings, run by Beth Knox, is a Maryland-based nonprofit organization that assists families with home funerals. Her experience with her young daughter's tragic death led her to create this organization to help families who want to keep the funeral experience intimate and personal.
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A Family Undertaking explores the complex psychological, cultural, legal and financial issues surrounding an important and growing new trend: the home funeral movement. The film profiles several families who have made the decision to forego the typical mortuary funeral and instead prepare their loved ones at home for burial or cremation.
Dying Wish is a documentary about Dr. Michael Miller, an eighty-year old retired surgeon with end-stage pancreatic cancer who chose to stop eating and drinking in order not to prolong his dying process.