By Susan Swartz, Press Democrat
Tommy Randal Odom, a gypsy wanderer in life, has found, in death, a permanent niche in history as the first person to be buried green in California. The body of the Texas native was laid to rest in September in Mill Valley at the first burial preserve on the West Coast.
This summer, the Daphne Fernwood Cemetery in the Marin Headlands began offering burial sites in a wildlife sanctuary and was featured in a story in AARP magazine on a trend in “green cemeteries.” Occidental artist Rebecca Love read the story. Weeks later, when her friend Tommy died in a car accident, she decided green was the way to go.
Known as “Tommy T,” Tommy Odom, 42, was a plumber, landscaper, former U.S. Marine and regular at the Renaissance Faire in Marin, where he painted clay figures. A devout Christian, his favorite sign- off was “Jesus loves you, man.” He was killed Labor Day weekend driving to his home in Occidental.
On Sept. 11, family and friends escorted Tommy’s body, wrapped in white muslin and placed in a pine box, to his grave, which is marked not by a marble slab but a piece of petrified wood and an oak tree.
“Hikers walking by Tommy will see a stone and an oak tree,” said Rebecca, who plans to return regularly for picnics.
Making a burial ground multiuse is what the Fernwood owners had in mind when they dedicated a portion of an existing cemetery as a nature preserve, selling interment rights that protect the land from being developed.
The idea of back-to-nature burial is really “a simple and old concept presented in a new concept,” said Fernwood co-owner Tyler Cassity. Putting bodies in the ground without benefit of cement vault and airtight casket was common 100 years ago in this country. At Fernwood, embalming is not allowed. Grave markers must be natural and caskets biodegradable — just like us.
Cassity, whose funeral hip-ness extends to being a consultant for HBO’s “Six Feet Under,” thinks green burials appeal to those who “want to feel close to the natural world” but think a cemetery is a waste of space. This way they get to be part of nature and save it at the same time. Part of the interment fees are used to maintain the natural landscape.
Fernwood is patterned after a similar burial ground in rural South Carolina. But the idea of an organic repose is a logical part of the natural death movement pioneered by many in Sonoma County.
Tommy Odom’s funeral was arranged by Jerri Lyons, a nationally known death midwife in Sebastopol whose Final Passages organization helps families do home funerals. Tommy’s pine casket was built by Kathleen Broderson, the Forestville designer of A Plain Pine Box, whose works double as linen chests until they go in the ground. Tommy’s artist friend Rebecca, who sculpts death masks, is creating an image of Tommy’s face for his relatives.
A green cemetery is designed to look like a park, and to this end Fernwood will install hiking trails and invite visitors to watch for birds and hold outdoor weddings.
The AARP story on green graveyards prompted thousands of queries from consumers, property owners and funeral directors. Fernwood now has a waiting list of 700 people “who want in,” said Cassity.
The view alone would explain part of the draw. Five men lowered Tommy into his grave, which looks to Mount Tamalpais on one side and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Musician Chris Caswell, in full Scottish dress, played the bagpipe. Someone read the 23rd Psalm and held the wooden cross Tommy kept on his dashboard.
All agreed it was a lovely ending. And beginning.