What Are Your Final Arrangements?

[IowaStatePhiPsi]

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:

Hath not old custom made this life more sweet
Than that of painted pomp? Are not these woods
More free from peril than the envious court?
Here feel we but the penalty of Adam,
The seasons' difference; as, the icy fang
And churlish chiding of the winter's wind,
Which, when it bites and blows upon my body,
Even till I shrink with cold, I smile and say
'This is no flattery: these are counsellors
That feelingly persuade me what I am.'
Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head;
And this our life exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in every thing.
I would not change it.

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.

[Jill1228]

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!

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



WTF?!

[lifesaver]

Originally posted by Jill1228
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!

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.

[IowaStatePhiPsi]

Originally posted by lifesaver
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.

[aggieAXO]

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

same for me

[RACooper]

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

[Peaches-n-Cream]

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.

[AznSAE]

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/

[Optimist Prime]

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]

[Optimist Prime]

also, the temples of
Delphi
Elysis

[aephi alum]

Originally posted by AznSAE
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've heard of this before. It creeps me out.

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

[aephi alum]

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...

[astroAPhi]

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.)

[lifesaver]

Originally posted by astroAPhi
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.

You can tell you work for NASA, lol.

[AznSAE]

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 .