State funerals...question
 

I really don't want this to sound morbid or disrespectful because it's not meant to be. My coworkers and I were talking today about how we wondered if Reagan's body really was in that casket the whole time. I'm not saying we think he's not dead or anything like that. It's just that that is a lot of flying and moving from California to Washington and back to California.
Any thoughts?

I'm sure that there's a cold storage area of the plane where the casket is kept.

I'm not sure that it matters one way or the other.

No, I don't think it does matter. It was just a curiosity thing.
My exboyfriend used to tell me I was nosy and I'd say "nope, just curious" and then I'd say "Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back."

Does anyone know what denomination that chapel is? We're watching a bit of the funeral at work and we noticed that it seems that a representative of each denomination has a part in the service...we weren't sure if the chapel had one specific denomination or what.

The National Cathedral is an Episopal Cathedral, but due to it's place in DC (and tradition with the Presidency...I don't know why or how that started), whenever there is a big service they have different representatives there.

That's just from what I've seen. I'll email my hubby, who knows more about it than I do.

PsychTau

I'm listening on the radio at work. If it's at the National Cathedral, it's Protestant Episcopal.

Our secretary said she thought it was Episcopalian, but we just weren't sure.

Thanks!

Last night, they were talking about how the National Cathedral is Episcopal, but the service was going to be ecumenical. President Reagan was Church of Christ, but Nancy is Presbyterian. I have no idea what their children are.

I loved Isaiah 40, which Rabbi Kushner read.

This is what my husband said (who knows more about the Cathedral than I do):

The Episcopal church runs and I believe owns the land, offers Episcopal services but other denominations hold services at the National Cathedral as well.


PsychTau

The Cathedral is owned by the Episcopal Church and holds services there, but allows other denominations to hold services there as well. The Church receives no federal or "state" funding it relies on their own funds and private donations.

cosign The "Washington" National Cathedralis an episcopal church. Its beauftiful inside, If you are in the dc area go on the tour. The National Cathedral is also the home of two schools The National Cathedral School for Girls and the St. Albans school for Boys. It also took like 80 years to build.
more info at www.cathedral.org


Also many people confuse the Washington National Cathedral with the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immacualte Conception also at times called the National Cathedral. The Basilica or Cathedral sits on the campus of the Catholic University of America.

more info at www.nationalshrineinteractive.com/

Hooray for saying the same thing 10 times!

Everyone just has to have the last word, huh?

On a semi-related note, has anyone ever attended a burial at Arlington?

Such a bizatch you are. Tell me why was I thinking the same thing?

I've "been" to a service and burial at Arlington but unfortunately I don't remember any of it. One of my dad's old buddies from his days in the Army was buried there, and we went to his service when I was 5.

I love your new location, btw.

Re: State funerals...question
 

President Reagan's body was embalmed and casket already been sealed before it left the funeral home. Generally, in U.S. state funerals, the casket is always kept closed.

On SAM 28000 (the call sign for the VC-25A (Boeing 747) presidential aircraft) there's plenty of room on the main deck to find a secure location for the casket. (The USAF learned the hard way back during JFK's assassination - the rear section of SAM 26000 (a Boeing 707-300) had to have a couple of rows of seats and partitions removed to allow transportation of JFK's casket.) While the exact interior configuration of the Presidential aircraft is - for obvious reasons - classified, there is a staff conference room area aboard the plane that can be easily modified to allow carriage of a casket and permit Mrs. Reagan a private place to be with her husband.

If you want to know the basic information on how state funerals are performed, the following might be interesting reading:

Department of the Army Pamphlet 1-1: State, Official and Special Military Funerals (Adobe PDF)

Re: State funerals...question
 

My boyfriend and I were wondering the same thing...if it was in there can you imagine the state it is in! Going from hot to cold over and over....ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

I dont think its disrespectful to discuss. (We need to get off that damn American cultural thing of not dealing with/or discussing death. Its not healthy. Its stupid and backward (not you - the cultural norm.))

As I understand it, modern embalming technology is such that you could have any properly embalmed body in your living room for weeks and not smell anything untward.

Things are sewed or glued shut. What isnt sewed shut is stuffed with gauze and cotton.

However modern burial isnt that good of a thing. The whole air tight and sealing of the casket dosent allow for a body to dry out naturally, instead, anerobic bacteria are involved and it gets to be a slimy mess down the road.

Reason #2313 why I want to be cremated.

Me too. Is it bad that I've already picked out the spot where I want my ashes scattered?

Nope. So have I. And my family knows exactly where. I have planned out my ceremony. Its my funeral and want it done my way. I have a $20,000 life insurance ploicy and I want them to spend $8 - 10K on the funeral (thats cheap, BTW), throw a big ass party/wake with open bar and a catered dinner for my friends and family. and then for my family to take a trip on whats left over. (of course thats if I was to die in my 20's or 30's - I'm sure I will change it every decade or so)

BTW: I want them to play Sarah McLachlan's "I will remember you". They did at JFK Jr's and I think its cool.


I think I am gonna open another thread on this. I'm interested in hearing what others would want.

Another thought
 

Do ya'll think the reason some of us are so into the pagentry and ceremony and ritual of a state funeral is that:

1) Since were a relatively young country and we have few ceremonies and the main thing that unites us as a county is non of us are from here and we dont have a lot in common so its rare that we do stuff like this? And...

2) As greeks we are all about the symbolism and pagentry and its kinda cool to see it on a national level - ya know, the whole country doing it?

one has to wonder how much it cost and who paid for it...

I heard that the state funeral for President Reagan cost around $114 million dollars and that the gov't spends it as a honor to a past president

The actual cost for a state funeral really isn't that much; if you factor in the paid day off for the government on Friday's day of mourning that's where that figure comes in.

While a past President is entitled to a state funeral, it is entirely at his option whether he wants the full pomp and ceremony. When Nixon died in 1994, he requested no state funeral, just a simple ceremony at the Nixon library in Yorba Linda, California.

Thanks for addressing my question. I didn't think there would be a problem with smelling since the body in embalmed.

I was wondering how much this funeral cost. Well not really the funeral, but the paid day off for gov't workers. I think that it is fine to do all of this for a past president as he has earned it, but darn if that is not a lot of $!

Andy, I like your plan for your funeral.

I visited the cathedral when I was in DC in December. It is so beautiful and huge. If you get a chance, go visit it. :)