When did you buy a cemetery plot? What age and what made you do it? (divorce, relocate)

[mike1003]

Originally Posted by ReachTheBeach

I may do that and skip trying to sign up with a medical school as the medical school idea bothers one of my kids.

I've seen what med students do with pieces and parts.....Not for us

And, too many relatives went up in smoke from Hitler's ovens, so no cremation for us

We will be planted in the ground, although I doubt anyone will visit our graves

[athena53]

Originally Posted by ReachTheBeach

I may do that and skip trying to sign up with a medical school as the medical school idea bothers one of my kids.

They also have some standards. DH and I looked into it and they don't accept emaciated bodies (need muscle tissue, I guess). By the time acute myeloid leukemia took him, he was over 6' tall but weighed 117 lbs.

Originally Posted by jasperhobbs

Cremation for me. I told my wife I want my ashes on top of Mt Everest and I am holding her to it I sure hope she is up to the climb.

I knew I was likely to outlive DH because he was 15 years older. I'd told him that I'd be scattering bits of his ashes all over the world. He loved that! Arthur's Seat, a mountain outside Edinburgh, was at the top of our list. We'd climbed it together in 2001- 0.4 miles elevation with good paths most of the way to the top. I discreetly sprinkled some of his ashes there 2 months ago. So far I've distributed them (less than 1/4 cup at a time) in 3 places in the US, 2 in Edinburgh, off a bridge over the Seine in Paris, 2 places in Iceland, in the Panama Canal, off Costa Rica, at the base of a giant tree in Kathmandu and in the Ganges at Varanasi, while a Hindu priest chanted from the Vedas. I should note that, while it is legal and respected in India, in most countries it's prohibited, so proceed at your own risk.

DS, my only child, knows that I want cremation as well, and whatever is left of DH's ashes will be mingled with mine and disposed of whatever way he chooses. I'm not a fan of in-ground burial; it's expensive, a waste of space and resources, and with so much mobility in our society there may be no one to visit if they all move out of the area. Dad had Mom's ashes "inurned" in a columbarium at their church but then moved 2 hours away to be near my brother. No one else was in that area so eventually Dad sold the niches back to the church, they picked up the brass box with Mom's ashes, and had it "inurned" again in the church Dad now attends.

[DanBev]

We are in our 80's and had to give up FL and move to hell on earth CT.
We are native to Ct which during our time was a pleasant state but changes not nice.
I purchased our burial plans,cremation and we will use veteran's cemetery with only grave side memorial service.One plot for both of us.I did this to protect my wife,she has developed severe short term memory loss.
Our daughter is executor.

[MI-Roger]

We were in our early 30's when we purchased our above ground single casket sized crypt in which our cremains will be placed.

Why so early?
- My parents purchased their plot and headstone decades early so the concept was common to me.
- We received pre-construction pricing of $1500 and 5 year Zero Percent financing.
- A co-worker/friend had her father die suddenly in his 50's and the search for a cemetery plot delayed services for days.
- We bought our crypt in the bottom tier of the 'cheap seats' as crypts located near floor level are much more expensive.

Although the mausoleum plan had all exterior crypts when we purchased it has since been fully enclosed and our crypt is now inside. My wife says to just use the cardboard box from the crematorium as her urn. Personally I think inexpensive ( <$200) brass or ceramic urns from e-tailers are a better choice, and may actually be required by the cemetery.

[VTsnowbird]

My alma mater has a medical school, at the end of the year they have a very moving and respectful service for the donated cadavers that have been used throughout the year. Families are welcome as well. It's an important part of medical education, although a case could be made for "virtual" dissection.

[Nightengale212]

My parents and I purchased a cemetery plot in 2001 when my husband passed away. The cemetery is not far from my home and overlooks the bay that borders a state park where my late husband frequently walked our dogs. In addition to my late husband my parents are now buried in that plot and so are the dogs, the ashes of my BIL, and will be the ashes of my sister, and then me buried in a casket next to my late husband.

[turkeydance]

recently, both my FIL and MIL died.
they had donated their bodies to the local Med School, but both were rejected.
MIL was over the weight limit (180lbs) and FIL had too many medical conditions.
their bodies were cremated. both boxes will be buried with the FIL's mother at her gravesite.
essentially, a post hole is dug and they are placed them in it. a marker is Required at this cemetery.

quote:
We cannot accept donations where any of the following conditions are present at death:
infectious diseases, hepatitis A, B, C, HIV/Aids, jaundice, Creutzfeld-Jacob disease,
tuberculosis, MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), sepsis, decubitus
ulcers (bed sores), emaciation (weight under 100 lbs), obesity (men weight over 200
pounds, women weight over 180 pounds).

[brightdoglover]

No medical schools around, and no family/survivors. My lawyer will be in charge of whatever happens (and I carefully found a lawyer a lot younger than me).
There's a place in town that does green burials- I think it's a biodegradable urn and a tree planted- don't know if you'd have to own a plot for it to go on. I have thought to pre-pay for whatever is greenest (I gather cremation isn't all that good for that) but absolutely no interest in coffins, headstones, etc.
I remember reading the poem "Thanatopsis" in high school and liking the image of the roots of the oak piercing your mouldering body or whatever it was in the poem.
It all seems pointless to me (my own feeling) and want to cause as little muss and fuss as possible. Dust to dust.

[mshultz]

I bought a plot and a tombstone last year, at the age of 61. It is in the same cemetery as my parents and my mother's side of the family.

I have donated my body to the local medical school. If that falls through, then cremate me. What happens to my remains does not bother me.

I have the money now for this expense, and the tombstone in the family cemetery will be of benefit for any future genealogist.

[ChessieMom]

Cremation is my choice - no desire to be stuck in a hole somewhere.