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Where Knowledge Junkies Get Their Fix
Yesterday, Tim Nudd of Adfreak mentioned Major League Baseball-branded urns (via Make The Logo Bigger). A little Googling turned up a Stanley Cup urn, teddy bear urns (for pets) and a bronze bust urn. I don’t have anything else to say about urns. But I would like to discuss the contents within.
Spreading a lost loved one’s ashes across an exotic or poignant locale is something I’ve only ever seen in movies. I assume this really happens – either the inspiration for all the big screen ash-spreading, or in response to it. Anyone have a (true) story about scattering a person’s ashes somewhere special?
My aunt was a kind-hearted soul, especially when it came to animals. She lived in Newton, MA (kind of an urban area) and one day someone dumped a flock of chickens/roosters in the circle of an interstate exit near her home. She took to feeding those chickens daily, right at that circle, and fed them for years. Who knows how they survived, maybe predators couldn’t make it safely across the traffic. In any event, when she died, she wanted her ashes to be scattered at the interstate exit near her chickens. P.S. My uncle & cousins fed the chickens for a while after, then arranged for a new home for them.
posted by Kim on 5-25-2007 at 6:51 am
At the 1998 Reno hot air baloon races one baloon left the dawn patrol about 20 minutes before the rest and caught a different wind. As it floated off above the hills north of town it was announced over the PA system that it carried the ashes of the founder of the races who had died earlier in the year of cancer. They were scattered over the mountains that he loved from the vehicle that he loved. A fitting tribute.
posted by Doc Stuart on 5-25-2007 at 7:00 am
At the 1998 Reno hot air baloon races one baloon left the dawn patrol about 20 minutes before the rest and caught a different wind. As it floated off above the hills north of town it was announced over the PA system that it carried the ashes of the founder of the races who had died earlier in the year of cancer. They were scattered over the mountains that he loved from the vehicle that he loved. A fitting tribute.
posted by Doc Stuart on 5-25-2007 at 7:00 am
I work for an attorney who does wills and estate planning, so I’ve heard of a couple of ash scatter stories. My favorite, however, wasn’t planned. A few years ago, one of our clients, a dean at a local college, died. He’d worked there for most of his life, and as my boss put it, he hated to be separated from it. So my boss thought it a good idea scatter his cremains across the campus. Unfortunately, this was “frowned upon” by the school, so he and another friend of the deceased went late one night and did it anyway.
posted by Dan H. on 5-25-2007 at 7:14 am
My uncle passed away a couple years ago, was creamated, and the family thought we should spread the ashes in one of his favorite places. We narrowed it down to either the hot dog and beer cart at Three Rivers Park in PA, or the Horsehoe Casino in Vegas. (My uncle was a bit of a hedonist..)
Eventually we decided to take him to Vegas, where my father surreptitiously dumped the ashes in some bushes in front of the casino while my mom watched for security. True story.
posted by Greg B on 5-25-2007 at 7:27 am
Before my husband died, he asked to have his ashes scattered at a stream in Alasksa where we had camped and fished. The June atfer he died the whole family (about 35 people) got up to AK and everybody got out to the stream (by float plane or boat) and we scattered his ashes. It was a perfect, unusually sunny and warm day. I think he would have liked it.
posted by Annette on 5-25-2007 at 7:30 am
when my grandfather passed, he donated his body to science so was cremated a year after his death. my mom and aunt “sprinkled” him at the family plot where my grandmother was also to be buried. imangine their surprise as they were carefully sprinkling ashes and all of a sudden there was a THUD. they didn’t think about his metal shin plate which of course was not turned to ash. so, here’s a little lesson for everyone: if you have someone cremated be sure to ask them to remove any and all fake body parts!! we later remembered this little fact and had the crematorium people remove my grandmother’s fake hips from her ashes.
posted by mri on 5-25-2007 at 7:44 am
Grandma was a fun-loving party girl back in her day, and mellowed out to a rough-around-the-edges matriarch. We put her ashes in a wooden whiskey box, as she would have liked, and buried it in the shade of an elm tree (she hated the sun).
posted by J on 5-25-2007 at 8:11 am
When my husband was diagnosed with terminal emphysema/COPD in 2003, he and I discussed what to do with his ashes, and so, according to his wishes, in April 2004 (he’d died in March), the family and some friends, about 15 of us, got together in Sedona, Arizona, and ceremoniously dumped the ashes into Oak Creek at Red Rock Crossing, a short distance from where he’d attended Verde Valley School in the mid-50s. We had toasted him with some excellent brandy provided by his brother and poured the last of it into the creek after my son deposited the ashes. It was quite moving and perfect.
posted by Dolly on 5-25-2007 at 8:25 am
My grandfather was also a life-long hobby gardener, and also a lover of the ocean and snorkeling in particular. So when my grandfather died part of his ashes were put in the soil with the houseplants at his home in St. Croix, and the rest were scattered in the ocean in hopes that some part of him would make it to the Great Barrier Reef, where he had always wanted to snorkel.
posted by Sara on 5-25-2007 at 8:40 am
My Dad died three years ago, and my mom died just 31 days later. A lifelong railroader, he asked that his ashes be scattered along the railroad tracks at the station where he was agent for the longest time, the place that was closest to being ‘home’ for all of us.
My mom said she had followed him all over the place to different assignments on the railroad, and she could just as well follow him in death. So two years after their deaths, the whole family gathered and scattered their ashes along the railroad tracks. We managed to get it done between trains, then when a train came along we flattened pennies on the tracks to keep as mementos of the occasion.
posted by Mark R. Brown on 5-25-2007 at 8:47 am
My wife was a great swimmer; she remarked on the way home from a swimming-picnic that she’d like to be cremated and placed into the lake we were just leaving. She might have had a premonition: a month later she had her heart attack, and three months later
I returned to that lake and, well, she’s still swimming there.
Don’t worry, I asked, and it doesn’t hurt the lake or anyone.
posted by Art on 5-25-2007 at 8:48 am
We tried to separate my mother’s ashes to take some to her mother and sister in Florida to be spread, but we just couldn’t do it. For now, she sits in a box in my sister’s office.
When the time is right, we will either spread or bury her ashes at my childhood home. That’s the one place she was always trying to get back to.
posted by Roxanne on 5-25-2007 at 9:23 am
after my mother was cremated my daughter and I took her ashes up to Trinidad Head in northern Calif., said a little prayer and both of us threw her ashes over the side of the cliff. As we were driving away I suddenly told my daughter to stop the car, get out and don’t ask questions. She did as she was told and I got out too and ran around to her side of the car.I told her to brush herself off because Grandma was all over her pants.
posted by Linda on 5-25-2007 at 9:58 am
after my mother was cremated my daughter and I took her ashes up to Trinidad Head in northern Calif., said a little prayer and both of us threw her ashes over the side of the cliff. As we were driving away I suddenly told my daughter to stop the car, get out and don’t ask questions. She did as she was told and I got out too and ran around to her side of the car.I told her to brush herself off because Grandma was all over her pants.
posted by Linda on 5-25-2007 at 9:58 am
TMZ reported not too long ago that Keith Richards snorted his father’s ashes.
posted by Mallory on 5-25-2007 at 10:05 am
One time my husband and I were out driving on the beach. We decided to change directions and as we were driving around a large rock on the beach, suddenly we saw people running towards us waving their arms. It seems we ran over their Uncle Charlie(his ashes)Well, needless to say we both felt so bad and apologized. But they told us not to worry about it, that Uncle Charlie had a sence of humor and would have gotten a kick out of it.
posted by Linda on 5-25-2007 at 10:25 am
I’ve spent many years attending various Renaissance Faires throughout the state. Some people, however, possitively lived for these faires. There are several stories of ‘rennies’ having their ashes shot out of a cannon at the opening or closing of the faire.
posted by Tru on 5-25-2007 at 10:25 am
My step-dad’s ashes were scatttered over the baseball field in California where he used to play ball.
posted by Melissa on 5-25-2007 at 8:03 pm
my mother died by her own hand during the christmas season 2007. for me it was and still in an incredibly sad and unnecessary tragedy. as was much of her life.
in the summer prior to her death, we had discussed our remains and what would we each like done with them. she stated she had, like me always wanted to be cremanted. i expressed my desire to have my ashes distributed amongst those who wished to have them and to have those loved ones sprinkle them in lovely places around our planet. a pretty meadow, a mountain top, an exotic locale where i wished to travel to. somewhere that although i never saw in life i could still expierience through someone else’s eyes. my mother thought this was a lovely idea. and expressed the same desire.
following her cremation i received a small amount of ashes from my remaining siblings and i intend to spread her remains where i feel that she might have enjoyed the sights or views of this beautiful world we call planet earth.
despite her despair in her final moments i hope to help show her that the world can be a beautiful place. perhaps it will help bring me peace.
my first deposition of her remains will be in france this spring. the exact site at this time is not yet clear. perhaps the meditteranean sea, the foot of the eiffel tower or a small vine yard. i do not know yet.
i do intend to make the small amount of ashes last me a life time. in my memorial i will ask that what remains be recremated with mine. in this way whe will always be with me. and she will see the beauty and wonder of the world that i see.
i hope i am not being selfish. i miss her terribly.
posted by marnie on 2-2-2008 at 10:43 pm