By A.J. Nelson, Reporter-Times.com
MORGAN COUNTY
The “green” burial might be catching on as a fad in some parts of the country, but local funeral directors are getting few requests for such an older way to inter the dead.
However, one “green” method, scattering ashes, does appear to be gaining favor, so much so it could become part of one local cemetery.
The idea of a “green” burial would involve wrapping the body in a handmade grave shroud or quilt and laid in the earth directly, or in a biodegradeable coffin, the venerable pine coffin, and buried on family land or in a wooded, natural setting.
Unlike modern embalming methods and burial in metal coffins that preserve a body, “green” methods would allow the corpse to decompose quickly, returning the deceased “back to the earth.”
And in spite of the fact that Morgan County has several large family farms or wooded tracts of land owned by families, requests to be buried on family land just aren’t that common, according to Mia Neal, funeral director and co-owner of Neal and Summers Funeral Home in Martinsville.
“In nearly 20 years of doing this, I can honestly say I haven’t had very many people inquire about it,” she said. “Maybe once every five years, if that.”
Neal explained that under Indiana law, bodies are only allowed to be buried in registered grave yards, and are strictly prohibited from being buried on private property. However, it is possible to obtain a permit to scatter cremated ash remains on private property.
“People will scatter cremains on private property a lot, that’s not unheard of,” she said.
As to why local funeral directors don’t get more requests to be buried on family land instead of in a cemetery, Jones Family Mortuary owner Jeff Jones said most people are more conservative.
“I think people in the Midwest, and even more so in Morgan County, are a lot more traditional than a lot of other people,” Jones said.
Jones did say he gets four to five requests a year to scatter cremated remains. He explained the procedure.
“When they pick up the cremains from us, they sign a document that they will take care of the remains,” he said. “But some people aren’t really going to do anything with them, they just keep them. Some of them scatter them over farm ground or over lakes.”
Jones said after a scattering, a document is supposed to be filed with the county recorder’s office to disclose that a body was buried on the property for a future sale.
However, one funeral director is seeing such an increase in demand to scatter ashes, he is going to put in a scattering area at Nebo Cemetery.
Costin Funeral Home owner Kenny Costin said he was already holding on to four cremated remains until he establishes a scattering area at Nebo Cemetery, which he owns, in 2009.
Costin said he has participated several times in the scattering of ashes, particularly with one family that wanted ashes scattered over a family farm. He said the man who died requested to be buried on his property.
“I came up with this idea, why not go and have a service and have a special ceremony with his remains,” Costin explained.
The service was held at the family farm, then Costin went up on top of a hill, and with the help of his children, scattered the man’s ashes from the top of the hill while the family watched.
“They asked me to take part (in the scattering), and I thought it was pretty neat,” he said. “The key was, they (the family) still had a service. That’s what’s important about what we do. Help them have a service.”
Costin said the ash scattering area he wants to build at Nebo Cemetery will probably back up to what is now a wooded area, where he will build a gazebo structure, a place where families can return to “visit” with their relative.
“Some families are going to say, ‘I don’t need that,’ and that’s fine,” he said. “But some people need to come back and say, ‘This is where their remains are.’”