Ashes to ashes ...

With traditional burials on decline,
cremation becoming more common

January 8, 2006

By MEGAN VARNER
Index-Journal senior staff writer

Maybe it’s the ability to always have your loved one with you.
Maybe it’s the serenity of floating away on a gentle breeze.
Maybe it’s the desire to carry on a long-standing family tradition.
Maybe it’s the comfort of having a simple, economical service to memorialize a family member.
Whether it’s for religious, financial, environmental or personal reasons, more people are now choosing cremation rather than standard burial as their method of disposition after death. Though South Carolina doesn’t have a “very high” cremation rate, the numbers are growing every year, said Cremation Society of South Carolina President Randy Harreld.
“Traditional funerals are declining and cremation is rising,” Harreld said. “Right now, (cremation) is probably around 13 to 15 percent of all funerals.”
Cremation — the burning of a body after death — is a concept that can be traced as far back as the early Stone Age in 3000 BC, where it was practiced in areas in Europe and Asia, according to information on the Cremation Association of North America’s (CANA) Web site.
Over the next several thousand years, it became more widely practiced, and by the end of the Roman Empire in the late 400s, decorative urns and columbariums — buildings with recesses that can house urns — often were used to store cremated remains.
According to CANA, the modern cremation process began in the late 19th century, and a model of a cremation chamber was first displayed at the 1873 Vienna Exposition.
Three years later, the first crematory in the United States was built in Washington, Pa.
By 1999, the number had grown to nearly 1,500 crematories nationwide, the Web site states.
Harreld said there were about 30 crematories in South Carolina, compared to the more than 500 licensed funeral homes in the state.
Though they do not cremate on site, many local funeral homes do offer cremation services by contracting with out-of-town crematories, usually in Easley or Georgia.
Robinson & Son Mortuary, Parks Funeral Home, Percival-Tompkins Funeral Home and Blyth Funeral Home & Cremation Services each offer an array of urns for clients who choose cremation.
The demand for cremation has been on the rise at most local funeral homes. Wayne Gantt, president of Blyth, said cremation now represents about 15 percent of their services.
“We hear every reason you could imagine as to why it’s done,” Gantt said. “One reason (for the increase) could be due to the fact that we have a lot of newcomers to the Greenwood area that are from areas where cremation is common” such as the Northeast, California and Florida.
In December 2005, Harley Funeral Home and Crematory became the first funeral home in Greenwood to offer cremation services on site.
“We saw a need to be able to offer cremation services here,” said Harley Funeral Home and Crematory Assistant Manager Ruple Harley III.
Since the crematory began operating Dec. 15, more than five cremations have been performed at the funeral home. Harley said cremations now account for about 18 percent of their business — up from about 4 percent just a few years ago. Like Gantt, Harley said lower costs and an influx of residents from the Northeast have led to higher demand. Some people, he added, also might opt for cremation because of space concerns at cemeteries.
In order to perform a cremation, Harley said state law requires an amount of paperwork, and funeral homes must have an authorization form signed by family members, a coroner’s permit and a certified death certificate before they can perform the service. There are even pre-need forms that people can fill out before their death to specify their own cremation wishes.
After a waiting period of 24 hours after death, the body is placed in a cremation casket — which can range from a simple cardboard box to an elaborate hardwood casket — and put into the cremation chamber retort.
Once inside, the casket is exposed to intense heat in excess of 1,400 degrees for several hours, Harley said. The Department of Health and Environmental Control routinely monitors emissions and air quality at the crematory, Harley said.
“Everything is consumed except for bone. It’s really not just ashes” that are left in the retort, said Dennis Porter, a funeral service attendant with the Cremation Society of South Carolina.
The ashes and fragments are then processed in a machine and “reduced to a powder-like form,” Porter said. Some families may choose to have a memorial service with the cremated remains, while others might opt to have a funeral service with the body before the cremation service, Harley said.
Depending on the deceased or family’s wishes, the cremains (or cremated remains) then can either be buried, placed in a columbarium, scattered over authorized land or water or kept at home in an urn or decorative container, Harley said.
Wind chimes, bird baths and jewelry that can hold a portion of the cremains are also available, he said.
In 1997, CANA conducted a survey of crematories in the United States and Canada, and the more than 240 completed surveys showed that, out of the cremations performed in 1996, nearly 60 percent were performed on people of a Protestant faith.
Hal Lane, pastor with West Side Baptist Church, said there are no formal declarations by Protestant churches regarding cremation, and most churches respect the wishes of the individual and family.
The early church, however, was not as accepting of the practice as it is today, Lane added. He said this was likely because of the symbolism of fire as an eternal place of punishment and because cremation was associated with other religions and pagan practices.
Some religions, such as Judaism, still do not accept the practice of cremation, which might be viewed as desecration of the body.
“(People of the Jewish faith) don’t do anything to the body to change it from the way it is,” said Greenwood resident Maxine Bolton, who attends the Temple of Israel in Greenville. “They are put into the grave as they are, and we try to get burial done within 24 hours.”
But Lane said the opinion of cremation being a form of desecration of the body is not as prevalent in Protestant religions.
“Once we leave the body, the important thing is that the person is with the Lord. Resurrection of the dead doesn’t require preparation of the body in a certain way,” Lane said. “We understand that God can raise the dead and will do so no matter what happens to the body after death.”
Though banned by the Catholic Church until the 1960s, cremation has become an accepted practice with the religion in recent years, representing about 26 percent of the cremations in the 1996 CANA survey.
According to Sursum Corda, a publication of the Catholic Diocese of Charleston, the Church “earnestly recommends that the pious custom of burial be retained; it does not forbid cremation unless this is chosen for reasons which are contrary to Christian teaching.”
The Catholic Church still recommends that the cremation service take place after the funeral liturgy in order for family members and friends to view the body and have “psychological confirmation that the person is indeed dead,” the publication, provided by Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, states. Also, the Church instructs that the cremated remains should be placed in a grave, mausoleum or columbarium rather than scattered or kept at home.
Race also appears to be a factor in the preference for cremation, and in the CANA survey, whites represented nearly 90 percent of the cremations, with blacks representing only about 6 percent.
Marchelle Tompkins Bryant, co-owner, president and funeral director with Percival-Tompkins, said that, as a race, blacks generally have not shown much preference in the practice, though it has become more prevalent in recent years.
“We went to the point of getting rental units (caskets) so that our clients could get a better feel of having a funeral service,” she said, adding that with the rental caskets, families are able to conduct a regular funeral before the cremation.
“With cremation, they felt like they were missing something. This gives them a sense of service. We’re big on that as a race; we need to have the funeral. That is closure.”

Opinion

Changing S. C. government remains a work in progress

January 8, 2006

Changing the way government does business is always a daunting task, no matter where it is. In South Carolina, though, it’s somewhat akin to seeking the Holy Grail. That’s because some entrenched lawmakers and other officials, not to mention some of the bureaucracy, look upon government as their holy calling and their positions as sacrosanct.
One way of changing things for the better is the restructuring of government ….. combining some agencies, realigning others and indeed eliminating some. There is nothing that couldn’t be done more efficiently while saving the taxpayers money at the same time.

THE LATE GOV. CARROLL Campbell proved that changes can be made. He made plenty of them. That doesn’t mean, though, that more changes are not needed. In fact Campbell wanted to do more but never got the opportunity. That was noted by Bob McAlister, a former Campbell aide, when he delivered the eulogy at Campbell’s funeral. While discussing restructuring, he looked directly at Gov. Mark Sanford and said, “No, Mark, he (Campbell) didn’t think the job had been finished.”
Sanford has, of course, made proposals to make restructuring changes that would save a lot of money ….. $19 million a year, in fact. Even at today’s values, that ain’t trifling.
Government could be more responsive to the needs of the people of South Carolina, too, by improving services in a variety of ways.

“SOUTH CAROLINA HAS A system of government that to a large degree still operates as if it were stuck in 1895.” Sanford said when he offered his proposals. “South Carolinians deserve a government that answers to the people it’s intended to serve and makes the best use of their tax dollars – and it’s past time we act to move forward on that front.”
Saving money and better service should appeal to taxpayers. Whether they agree with the way Sanford approaches the changes or not, they should be strongly behind his goals.
Sanford has been criticized at times, but it hasn’t come so much from taxpayers as much as from those who resist changes of any kind. The governor has been up front on what he wants to do. He was elected on that basis. If voters want business as usual in the Legislature they’ll vote to replace Sanford. If they want to change the way business is done and improve their government, they’ll elect him for a second term. It’s as simple as that.

Editorial expression in this feature represents our own views.
Opinions are limited to this page.

Obituaries

Janet B. Fulmer

JOHNSTON — Janet Botts Fulmer, 75, of Riegel Road, died Friday, Jan. 6, 2006 at Trinity Mission Health and Rehab.
Born in Atlanta, she was a member of Philippi Baptist Church and was a homemaker.
Survivors include her husband, Billie (Bill) Fulmer; two daughters, Mrs. Rufus (Dianne) Laurence of Enoree and Debra Fulmer of Johnston; a sister, Daphne Murrell of Trenton; and two grandsons.
Services are 11 a.m. Monday at Philippi Baptist Church. Burial is in the church cemetery.
Visitation is 3-5 today at Edgefield Mercantile Funeral Home.
The family is at the home.
Edgefield Mercantile Funeral Home Inc., Edgefield, is in charge.

Willie Jones Jr.

Services for Willie Jones Jr. are 2 p.m. Monday at Pleasant Lane Baptist Church, Edgefield, conducted by the Rev. Sloan Gordon. The body will be placed in the church at 1. Burial is in the church cemetery.
Pallbearers are nephews.
Flower bearers are nieces and grandchildren.
The family is at the home of a sister, Oleathia Culbreath, 2607 Hampton Road, Kirksey Community.
Robinson & Son Mortuary Inc. is in charge.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at robson@nctv.com

Jerry Dean Marshall

McCORMICK — Jerry Dean Marshall, 42, died Saturday, Jan. 7, 2006 at Self Regional Medical Center.
Born in McCormick, he was a son of Lizzie Kate Marshall and the late George Marshall Sr. He was a former employee of the McCormick County Maintenance Dept. and was of the Baptist faith.
Survivors include his mother of McCormick; a daughter, Laponda Marshall of Greenwood; a son, Jerry D. Gilchrist of McCormick; a sister, Lila Mae Smith of McCormick; six brothers, Patrick Marshall of York, S.C., Terry Marshall, Johnny Marshall and Randy Marshall, all of Greenwood, James Marshall and James Kelly of McCormick; and two grandchildren.
The family is at the home of his mother, Route 2, Box 33 D, Saddle Horne Road.
Services will be announced by Walker Funeral Home.

Pauline Odessa ‘Polly’ Moore McCauley

PROMISED LAND — Pauline Odessa “Polly” Moore McCauley, 87, of 302 Morton Road, widow of Ernest McCauley Jr., died Friday, Jan. 6, 2006 at Self Regional Medical Center.
Born in LaGrange, Ga., she was a daughter of the late Tommy Williams and the late Annie Moore Williams. She was a member of John’s Creek Baptist Church and the Women’s Aide No. 98.
Survivors include three sons, Earnest McCauley III, Terry McCauley, both of Greenwood and Ulysses McCauley of the home; a daughter, Mrs. Vernon (Eula Mae) Griffin of Promised Land; 15 grandchildren, Joel Brooks, Ethel La’Rie Brooks, both of Greenwood and Tavis McCauley of Laurens, reared in the home; and 16 great-grandchildren.
The family is at the home.
Services will be announced by Robinson & Son Mortuary Inc.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at robson@nctv.com.