Home funerals: Tending to their own

HER LAUGH AND HER PASSION FOR LEARNINGTHESE ARE JUST A FEW THINGS LEE PETERSON LOVED ABOUT HIS WIFE, LYN.

SOT LEE PETERSON, WIDOWER: She just, ya know, was one of those people that didnt know a stranger.

BUT LYN WAS NO STRANGER TO SUFFERING. SHE BATTLED WITH ENDOMETRIAL CANCER FOR NEARLY EIGHT YEARS.

HER STRUGGLE ENDED IN THIS ROOM AT THE COUPLES FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA HOME.

THREE DAYS LATER, LYNS BODY WAS STILL HERERESTING AS PART OF THE HOME FUNERAL PETERSON HELD FOR HER.

LEE PETERSON SOT: I was able to have time with the body, really, just kind of just having it sink in, it was really somewhat comforting when it was just me and Lyns body.

PETERSON IS ONE OF A SMALL GROUP OF AMERICANS TAKING AFTER-DEATH CARE OUT OF FUNERAL HOMES AND INTO THEIR OWN HOMES.

INSTEAD OF ENLISTING THE ASSISTANCE OF A FUNERAL DIRECTOR, HE CARED FOR HIS DEPARTED WIFE WITH THE HELP OF FRIENDS AND FAMILY, WASHING AND DRESSING HER BODY AND HOLDING A SMALL SERVICE FOR HERALL INSIDE THE HOME.

HE SAYS ITS ALL ABOUT HAVING A CHOICE.

LEE PETERSON SOT: This isnt necessarily the way I did it would be the way other people would want to do it. But I think its more of a reassurance of ya know were all gonna go through this and I think its an honoring of that process, of that phase of life.

IN 45 STATES ITS LEGAL TO HONOR THAT PROCESS AT HOMEAND IN THE OTHER FIVE STATESCONNECTICUT, LOUISIANA, INDIANA, NEBRASKA AND NEW YORK

SOT ELIZABETH KNOX, FOUNDER, CROSSINGS: its still possible, just with the support of a compassionate, understanding funeral director.

BETH KNOX IS THE FOUNDER OF A MARYLAND-BASED EDUCATIONAL NON-PROFIT CALLED CROSSINGS: CARING FOR OUR OWN AT DEATH.

SHE STARTED THE ORGANIZATION MORE THAN TEN YEARS AGO AFTER SHE PROVIDED A HOME FUNERAL TO HER SEVEN-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER, ALISON, WHO DIED IN A CAR ACCIDENT.

SINCE THEN, SHES HELPED HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE, INCLUDING LEE PETERSON, PROVIDE AFTER-DEATH CARE TO THEIR LOVED ONES.

BETH KNOX SOT: Because weve handed it over to a profession and to strangers, were no longer involved.

MELISSE HINKLE, REPORTER STAND UP: WE CALLED 25 FUNERAL HOMES IN THE WASHINGTON, D.C. METROPOLITAN AREA. REACTION FROM MORTICIANS WAS MIXED. SOME SAY THEYVE NEVER HEARD OF HOME FUNERALS, OTHERS SAY THEYD SUPPORT A FAMILY WHO WANTED ONE. A FEW ARE AGAINST THE PRACTICE.

SOT RONALD TAYLOR II, FUNERAL DIRECTOR: Im more opposed to it because theres a lot that can go wrong.

RONALD TAYLOR IS A FUNERAL DIRECTOR HERE AT HIS FAMILYS FUNERAL HOME IN WASHINGTON, D.C. HE SAYS HIS EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND MAKES HIM UNIQUELY QUALIFIED TO CARE FOR THE DEAD THE WAY A FAMILY MEMBER CANT.

SOT RONALD TAYLOR II: They teach us all about how we should take care of the bodies - how a body should be taken care of.

BETH KNOX SOT: The true funeral director who is serving a family will be the one who says to the family and by the way, you can also do this yourself and you dont have to hire me.

KEEPING FUNERAL CARE IN THE HOME CAN ALSO KEEP COSTS DOWN. THE PRICE OF AN AVERAGE FUNERAL IS ABOUT $6,500 ACCORDING TO THE NATIONAL FUNERAL DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION. A HOME FUNERAL IS A FRACTION OF THAT PRICE.

BETH KNOX SOT: Its basically a few hundred dollars versus a few thousand dollars.

HOME FUNERAL ADVOCATES ATTRIBUTE THE MOVEMENTS GROWTH TO BABY BOOMERS LOOKING FOR ALTERNATIVES TO CONVENTIONAL FUNERALS.

LEE PETERSON FEELS HIS WIFES FUNERAL RESURRECTED A SENSE OF TOGETHERNESS IN HIS COMMUNITY.

LEE PETERSON SOT: You just dont see that in a neighborhood enough, like we would have seen it ya know decades ago. And I think people really miss that.

FOR UPI.COM, IM MELISSE HINKLE.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• home
• funeral
• death
• care
• service
• undertaker
• mortician
• news

[habloespanoza]

is anyone else just a tad bit uncomfortable by this?

[Napp28]

This practice is nothing new. Funerals were always held at home in North America until about the 1920's. I attened two funerals at the same funeral home within the past yr and would GREATLY prefer an at home funeral. Modern funeral homes turn the situation into a cookie-cutter event ... where better to lay out someones mortal remains than in their own living room?

[blessedmommy73]

@habloespanoza with the discusting costs that funreral homes force onto delicate and grieving families< I have asked that should I die, I would want a home funeral..but..keeping a body in the bed for 3 days?? After about 12 hours the body starts to smell bad and fluid ozzes out (sorry for that visual)so...EW. I want them to take me to the morgue, get me ready for the home funeral and then cremate me. I would HATE to think that my husband spent so much money on nothing.

[blsfreek]

Damn she was ugly

[Dan97LHS]

@DareKabe -what in the hell is so funny about that? Would you want someone laughing at you if someone you loved died? What if when you died, people just laughed and didn't care? If they didn't give you and your family the kind of respect that all people deserve? And just like tigger4929, I'm sick talking to you.

[abenm613]

On the other hand, the Jewish tradition requires a speedy burial, preferably the same day, preceded by ritual purification. The presense of professional funeral team (with a funeral home) within the Jewish community is essential to make such an arrangement possible. When my father died here in NY, the funeral ceremony might not be as emotional as what I used to see in the old country. But what really mattered to me was that my father was taken care of in accordance with our ancient tradition.

[abenm613]

When I was growing up in the former Soviet Union, the home funeral was a part of lifestyle and every once in a while you would see a funeral ceremony in front of an apartment building. The body would be carried out of the house in an open casket (with separated cover carried in front of it) and, with sounds of a brass orchestra, taken to a funeral bus parked a few hundred meters away. By how many such ceremonies you've seen per, say, year, you could estimate how many people died at your block.

[tigger4929]

@DareKabe you are a sick cunt now i dont like that word but thats what u are why the fuck would you right hahaha ur wife died my friend died to fucken cancer and my friends baby died so if your laughting at his wife then your laughting at me so fuck you cunt i hope it happends to you then you will understand how he felt and how i am feeling and other people i'm over talking to you u make me sick.

[tigger4929]

i think it is buitiful if thats what u wanna do with your loved ones that die just because it is available doesn't meen people have to have a home funeral it just meens its there for people who want it

[JAFER012801]

We do our funerals at our own home in the northern philippines.. It is always great.

[DareKabe]

Hahahahahaha ur wife died