Lori Lemons holds a Teddy Bear that contains the ashes of her baby
girl Nakita who was murdered last October.
By Wendy Koch, USA TODAY
CLICK HERE TO GO TO USA TODAY ARTICLE
As more funerals are followed by cremation, the plain brass urn
to hold ashes is being replaced by sculptures, picture frames, pendants,
wind chimes, sundials and even teddy bears.
Ashes of a police officer can now be kept close in a .44-caliber
Magnum silver-bullet keychain. Those of a biker can be cherished
in an urn that looks like a born-to-ride motorcycle gas tank.
"Cremation gives people many more options to grieve,"
says Armand Chevrette, a board member of the Cremation Association
of North America.
Ashes can be shot into space, compressed into "diamonds"
for jewelry or mixed with concrete into balls that are placed in
the ocean to create a coral reef.
A container for ashes is "the last gift people buy their loved
one," says Susan Frazer of In the Light Urns, a Three Rivers,
Calif., company selling such products. "They want to make sure
it's the right thing." Her biggest seller: a $30 cobalt blue
necklace pendant. It comes with a funnel to put the ashes inside
and glue to seal the pendant.
Frazer's firm, which has seen monthly sales increase from $5,000
in 2001 to $30,000 today, has received requests for custom urns for ashes that reflect the deceased person's occupation or interest, including
urns shaped like a fiddle, a clown and even a 1955 Chevy Impala.
Eternal Image in Farmington Hills, Mich., signed a licensing agreement
in June with Major League Baseball to reproduce the names and logos
of all 30 major league teams on a line of urns and caskets next
year
Alexandra Lachini, owner of Hold Me Urns in Redding, Calif., says
she began making teddy bears after her father died in 1998 and his
ashes were stored in an "ugly plastic urn" in a closet.
Each bear has a small compartment for a plastic-lined velvet bag
of ashes. Sometimes they are made with fabric from clothing that
was worn by the loved one. They cost about $80.
Karen Dalton, a nurse in Laureldale, Pa., bought her sister a teddy
bear for Mother's Day to remind her of her son, also a nurse, who
died of a drug overdose. The bear is made from his lab coat and
Harley-Davidson jacket. "She keeps it on her bed all the time,"
Dalton says.
Frazer got into the urn business after her 14-year-old son, Ryan,
died while swimming in 1995. "It was absolutely devastating,"
she says. She has three teddy bears inscribed with his name and
dates of birth and death.
"Cremation of pets is also extremely popular," Frazer
says. She says people want to carry mementos of their pets with
them, even to their own graves.
Lisa Ernst, a probation officer in Limerick, Pa., bought a four-sided
picture-frame urn after four family pets were killed in a fire in
August. "We all needed some closure," she says. Her two
sons miss their dogs and cats and "always want to look at the
pictures," she says.
The cremation industry expects further growth. A 2005 survey by
polling firm Wirthlin Worldwide found that 46% of Americans plan
to be cremated, up from 39% in 1995 and 31% in 1990.
Some religions oppose cremation, including Islam and Orthodox Judaism.
The Roman Catholic Church dropped its objection in 1963.
Sheryl Gafka, a massage therapist in Algonquin, Ill., says her
father, suffering from a terminal illness, wants his ashes to be
buried in Yellowstone National Park. This month, she bought a biodegradable
urn in the shape of a heart. She says, "He's the only person
in my life who has truly touched my heart."
In addition to the comments above, you will find a wealth of information
at the links on this page. If you should not find the information
you need on the website, please contact In The Light Urns' staff
directly at (800) 757-3488.
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