What Are Your Final Arrangements?
 

I might have asked this before, but...

If you dont have anything arranged, what would you want your FINAL service to look like?

I dont have anything arranged yet, which has me concerned. I want my final service to be according to my wishes, but I havent laid them out yet. My people tend to be real sketchy about talking about death. I should just put it all in a letter and give it to my sis in an envelope. I knwo I am the executor and beneficiary of their estate, and am the guardian of their son, but they have no idea about my wishes.

I want a nice service, the following songs played/sung (either as a medley when everyone is arriving, or individually during the service), Seek ye first, Ave Maria (the aaron Nevil version.. I think its an amazingly beautiful song), Just a Closer Walk With Thee (with the jazz twist), Here I am Lord, Take My Hand, Precious Lord, but definately ending with Sara McLaughlin's, I will Remember You. (played during the slide show). Anyone related to me that asks for Amazing Grace to be played will be hanunted to the point of insanity. I HATE that trite-ass, stupid overplayed song. If Sally fat ass struthers is now using it to make her buck off the starving kids in guatamala, its just one more reason why it shoul dbe banned from services.

I want anyone who wants to speak to come up and do so. I want it to be informal and open, happy and FUN. Lots of yellow Roses and purple Irises. I want a slideshow done of me at my happy times with all my friends and family and loving life. I want to be buried at Mission Park North cemetary. (Its between SA and Leon Springs and is my favorite part of SA, til I find a cemetary in Grey Forest.) I want my letters on my headstone. Some migh think it trite, but the fraternity has given me such happiness during my life, I dont want to disregard it in my afterlife. I of course want to be burried in my badge, but not in my suit. I want to be burried casually, in jeans or khakis and a nice button down and no jacket. It would be stupid for me to be burried in a suit. I've been dressed up about three times in my entire life. I hate being dressed up, so I better not have to spend eternity that way. And I damn well better be buried in my Red Wings. I've worn them almost daily since 1993. They are as much a part of me now as my name.

After I want the majority of my estate (however much you can get for a really good abercrombie hat collection, lol) spent on an open BBQ dinner and wake at Rudy's where all my friends and family remember me over a great BBQ dinner and lots of my great BS stories are told. I hope I have enough left over to have Dos Equis on tap. extra limes of course. lol.

lifesave, while a Brother who I love, you are insane, or not!!!!

:D

Mine was laid out in My Will done via a Brother of My Zeta. Rat Brother charged me $75.00! Well, that was for the cute ladies who witnessed it!

I am to be creamated and placed at the new house we are in the process of building with a plaque so they know who I was.

I am also a Member of the Living Trust of LXA. Stipulations are:

All money goes to Zeta (Chapter). If the Chapter is not there, it is to be held in Trust for 5 years or until the time that The Chapters is there. If after 5 Years, it is to go to LXA Educational Foundation.

Of course it is only $1.99, but is mine!:D

It sounds funny, but never forget, Life is precious, make plans while you can.:)

Dont forget, if goes to Probate, the Court gets most of it!????

Think about a living will whereby Doctors cannot keep you on life support. Keeps the friggen bill going up and all lose!:mad:

Many more need to think of things like this. Life is precious and fleeting!

Cheerful Chap aren't you?

A Japanese Elvis impersonator playing "Another One Bite the Dust."

Really answers the question doesnt it?

That is why some dont like to post on GC.:rolleyes:

So All of You smart assed posters just what do you do? Do you have any idea that will You When You will Pass? So what will you do?:confused:

Lifesaver, I knew you and I were kindred spirits. I have threatened to come back and haunt anyone who sings "Amazing Grace" at my funeral.

Take whatever organs might be useful, cremate the rest and go have a party. No casket, wake, burial or churchy stuff.

Actually am an Organ Donator, after that, Fry My Butt!:)

Did not put in the will, need to make an adendem, a PARTY, Strapped in a chair and everyone have a great time!!!!!:cool:

Put a Cigar in hand, Sun Glasses on face! Play Rock and Roll Music!!:D

lifesaver and a lot of Brothers from GC come in for the send off!:)

Then, a Road Trip To The Pitt and wow, beat down for a good time! Will be a Weekend Lost!LOL!

Me too.

In my church here in Boston, family and friends remembering me, hopefully not pissed off because I forgot them in the will.

Honestly though, haven't thought about it.

Goes without saying... I'm requesting Masonic funeral ceremonies as well as military honors. And to the nearest chapter of Alpha Sigma Phi (if there's none reestablished at the University of Oklahoma), that they form the Mystic Circle in memory of a deceased brother.

And I've requested my ashes be scattered over my high school alma mater, North Miami Senior High School, in North Miami, Florida.

Oh yes... the badge goes back to Alpha Sigma Phi National Headquarters.

Yes, I forgotn My Apron.:)

It is available for Me!:cool:

Many Small Things are not Remebered until others reninde You`:cool:

I don't have it all planned out, but I do think about it a lot especially since I got in a near fatal wreck back in September.

Memorial Service will be held at whatever church I'm currently attending (although I've attended the same church my entire life, so it will probably be that one). I want a viewing beforehand so my loved ones can pay there final respects. After the viewing I wish to be creamated. All useful organs will be donated.

I want some of my ashes spread at each of the following places:
**On the grounds of my church (I was baptised there, went to daycare there, worked in the daycare & church nursery, will probably be married there. Most of my life I have spent 6 days out of the week there)
**At my parents burial plot so part of me will always be with them
**The beach near my house that I spend a great deal of time at.
**Some ashes somewhere in Clemson (my previous college and my favorite place in the world)

I do think about it. My mother in law recently lost her brother and I was telling my mother about the request he had. (ie cremation). My mother (and grandmother for that matter) is very against cremation (something about fire giving her the heebies). I said "that was what he wanted".

She said, "I wouldn't go by what he wanted"

I was thinking "how frigging selfish" and realized that I won't have her doing my last requests. NO WAY. Cause she had issues about my being an organ donor. I am not religious and she would want it to be in a church.

So definitely I am an organ donor. Hell I won't need my organs. Cremation and unless I have an Alpha Phi daughter, my badge will go back to EO.

I want a memorial service talking about all the wild and crazy shit I did. :D

WTF?! :eek:

My grandfather passed away in December, and I don't think my grandmother wanted him to be cremated. He knew that, and that's why he paid for the cost of cremation years ago. :) His ashes were scattered at sea, which was somewhat in keeping with his last requests.

As for myself, I'd like to be cremated (after all possible organ donation!). I don't have any major preference for where those ashes would go. I'd like the remaining money after cremation and final expenses to go to a memorial service.

The wake/viewing:
Should take place at the chapel at Riverside Lutheran Bible Camp. All the flowers people traditionally send, please keep in the vestibule.

The Casket:
Should be made of oak or pine with a light, natural finish. The only flowers I want on the casket to be a sprig of lavender and 2 pink roses. Near the casket I only want a few orchids and rosemary topiaries.

The funeral service:
Should take place at Reiman Gardens in Ames. Location dependent on time of year/weather. July/August: in the shade of the arboretum. Late April, May, June, Sept. in the rose garden or along the lake. The rest of the year in either the conservatory or the butterfly wing.
This should be a simple service celebrating my life and how I have affected the lives of others.

The Music:
The Inner Light by Chattaway.

The reading:
From Act II, Scene I of As You Like It by William Shakespeare:The Resting Place:
If I become famous: I want to be cremated and my ashes spread in Neil Smith National Wildlife Refuge with a tombstone placed on a hilltop overlooking the prairie.
If not famous: A suitable resting place overlooking a prairie or overlooking a river valley.

The Grave-side Service:
Should repeat the reading and song from the service.

The Tombstone:
With the reading engraved on it, done in a simple design like Pres. Herbert Hoover's grave.

The Memorial Fund:

Along with moneys from the liquidation of my estate, should go towards the restoration and development of a prairie &/or wetland area on the edge of Ames, Iowa.

Exactly! I love my mother and grandmother (even though Moms works my last nerve). When my cousin died in 1990 at age 24 from kidney failure, he wanted to be cremated and made this known. My grandmother wouldn't have it and had him buried. And trust me, I rose hell about it.


But this is why I will make sure my wishes are typed up and notarized and left with Mr. 1228. Cause he will have done what I want done...he just has to deal with the wrath of 2 tough sistahs! :D

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Jill1228
She said, "I wouldn't go by what he wanted."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



WTF?! :eek:

You can always wait till granny kicks off and have your cousin disinterred and cremated, like he wanted.

Or, be more spiteful, like I would, and wait till shes just old and immobile and near death, then have him cremated, while shes alive, but too old and frail to do anything about it.

Yeah, I'm evil. I just hate controlling people.

BTW, ISPP, hope you'll have lots of cash by then, cause that hunk of marble would run about $75,000. Not saying it isnt nice, just that its expensive as hell.

Doesn't need to be the same material as Hoover, just a similar simple design. :)

same for me

Lets see... as of the last will I made...

Headstone:
Granite Celtic-Cross with family crest in centre front
Personal information at base front

Attire:
Formal Kilt with the works - with the addition of military and fraternity badges by the clasp.

Service:
St. John the Baptist Church, Perth, ON

Wake:
Perth Manor, Perth, ON
- lots o'booze
- lots o'food
- photo displays and album

Music (all bagpipes):
The Brown Haired-Maiden (pre-service)
Abide with Me (processional - entering church)
Dark Isle (end of service)
Highland Cathedral (processional - leaving church)
Lochaber No More (grave-side lament)
Drunken Piper (beginning of the wake)
NO AMAZING GRACE (been done to death - sorry bad pun)

Donations:
Perth historical society
University of Toronto, University of St. Micheals College: Medieval Studies -and- Celtic Studies programmes
Lambda Chi Alpha - Canadian Education Scholarship
Epsilon Epsilon Zeta, Lambda Chi Alpha - Alumni Association and Housing Board
Six Mile Lake Conservation Group
Royal Canadian Legion

I have made no official final arrangements. I'm Catholic so I want a wake and then a Catholic funeral mass.

I like Amazing Grace.

This thread is depressing.

i saw in the news this weekend, i think it was cnn, that had something to do with life gems. they take the ashes of the deceased and make diamonds out of it.

http://www.lifegem.com/

I want a very elaborate ritual when I die, to span the time of nine days and nine nights. At the end of this period my body is to be cremated. Whoever spreads my ashes=executor of my will. My ashes will spread in several places througout the world:
stonehedge
loch lommand
Bretagne
Giza
on the Rhein, by Koln
on the Danube, by Wein
Ur [or the site closest thereunto]
and Kashmir [to bring peace between the three faiths of that state/provence/republic/whatever those things are called in Pakistan/India]

also, the temples of
Delphi
Elysis

I've heard of this before. It creeps me out.

"Oh, what a pretty ring! Was it your grandmother's?"
"Actually, it is Grandma..."

:eek:

Final arrangements.....

I haven't really planned or formalized anything, but there are a few things I know I want.

I don't want to be wearing a dress or skirt. I don't wear them in life, why should I wear one in death? A good pant suit will do nicely.

No wake. (I'm Jewish, but most of my family is Catholic, and they may try to insist on a wake. I'm sure my husband will lay down the law, though.)

A simple funeral.

I haven't decided on burial vs. cremation. On the one hand, Jewish tradition calls for burial, and my husband wants to be buried, so if I'm cremated, our physical remains don't get to be together... on the other hand, the thought of my body lying in the ground rotting creeps me out.

My family should sit shiva, and then move on with their lives, remembering the good times we had together.

now I'm depressed...

I've heard about the LifeGem idea and I think it's cool. If it was affordable, I'd probably ask for that.

Ok, this is way out there, but ideally, I'd like to have my body be sent up into space and put into a low orbit. That way when it re-enters the atmosphere, I go out a shooting star. :)

Or more realistically, I want cremated and my ashes scattered someplace special to me. I think people coming back to "visit" me is creepy. (And my grandpa was a mortician, so I also am creeped out by what they do to your body. Sorry, TMI, I know.)

You can tell you work for NASA, lol.

i dont know if i want to get creamated now. i am starting to hear more and more stories about bodies not getting creamated and the families receiving random ashes from who knows what :eek:.

Or that I'm a nerd. :p

Who cares!!

I'll be dead anyway...

also posted this in the Terri Shiavo thread in News/Politics:

The Five Wishes: Living Will by Aging With Dignity.

http://www.agingwithdignity.org/5wishes.pdf

My oldest sister (the 'old maid' sister) and I are filling these out.

I wish more people were organ donors.

When I worked for the eye bank I was shocked how many people aren't organ donors because they think they'll receive substandard care! :eek: Wow..... talk about a lack of education.... makes me wish organ donation entities spent more time/$ on public awareness. Even though I know no one wants to hear about that stuff.



I'm surprised there haven't been more "will your badge back to nationals!" reminders in this thread. Those are usually popular.