HOME FUNERAL RESOURCES
TV and YouTube
Home funerals and green burials, a 9-minute YouTube excerpt by Minn. Threshold Network members Heather Halen and Julie Tinberg.
Twin Cities Public Television’s excellent 26-minute documentary “End-of-life Choices: Through History.”
CBS news feature on home funeral vigils and green burials. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccN5pKaJa3U
The Most Excellent Dying of Theodore Jack Heckelman, a full-length documentary of the conscious dying and home funeral of a courageous environmentalist. Film clip at http://www.imdb.com/video/wab/vi1734280217/
A Family Undertaking, a full-length PBS documentary on the growing home funeral movement follows several American families as they forgo a typical mortuary funeral to care for their loved ones at home. Film clip at http://www.pbs.org/pov/afamilyundertaking/
Books and Articles
Alison’s Gift: The Song of a Thousand Hearts Opening by Pat Hogan (NOSILA Publishing, 1999). The true story of seven-year-old Alison, rendered brain dead in a car accident. After Alison died in the hospital, her mother, Beth Knox, cared for her body during a home vigil and went on to found Crossings: Caring for Our Own at Death. Book available at www.crossings.net.
Caring for the Dead: Your Final Acts of Love: A Complete Guide for Those Making Funeral Arrangements With or Without a Funeral Director. Lisa Carlson. Upper Access Publishers, 1998. The most comprehensive guide for funeral issues. An update on legalities has been compiled since the book was published and is available at www.funerals.org
Final Rights: Reclaiming the American Way of Death, Joshua Slocum and Lisa Carlson, Upper Access Press, 2011 http://www.funerals.org/
Going Out Green: One Man’s Adventure Planning His Own Burial.
Bob Butz, Spirituality & Health, 2009 www.bobbutz.com
Grave Matters: A Journey Through the Modern Funeral Industry To a Natural Way of Burial. Mark Harris, Scribner, 2007 www.gravematters.us
Handbook for Creating a Home Funeral, Jerri Lyons & JanelleVan Melvin, 1998
www.finalpassages.org
Laughing in a Waterfall: A Mother’s Memoir. Marianne Dietzel, Laughing Bridge Publishing, 2010 www.mariannedietzel.com
Living Consciously, Dying Gracefully: A Journey with Cancer and Beyond. Nancy Manahan & Becky Bohan, Beaver’s Pond Press, 2007 www.nanbec.com
Living Into Dying: A Journal of Spiritual and Practical Deathcare for Family and Community. Nancy Jewell Poer, White Feather Publishing, 2002 www.nancyjewelpoer.com
My Final Wishes (pre-planning booklet), Threshold Care Circle www.thresholdcarecircle.org
Organizational Resources
Beholding the Threshold: education and support for conscious dying, home vigils. and family-directed funerals from Linda Bergh & Marianne Dietzel www.beholdingthethreshold.com
Choices: Information and regulations for the final disposition of a dead human body in Minnesota
www.health.state.mn.us/divs/hpsc/mortsci/choices.pdf
Crescent Tide Funeral & Cremation, 764 Transfer Rd, St. Paul, MN 55114, 651-315-8214 www.CrescentTide.com. Funeral director Verlin Stole and funeral pre-arranger Lisa Stoll provide low-cost funerals and cremations.
Crossings: Caring for Our Own at Death. A resource center providing education and inspiration to families for better experiences in after-death care, with or without a funeral director, and for exercising choices that will bring about greater healing following the loss of a loved one. Offers a 37-page step-by-step resource guide for a home funeral as a $25 booklet or as a free PDF download at www.crossings.net.
Divine Passages: support and guidance for people facing end-of-life planning. Anni Davis and Lisa Serposs. www.divinepassages.net
Fine Farewell: handmade biodegradable burial and cremation shrouds and cradles
Funeral Consumers Alliance: national watchdog and educational organization for home funerals and ethical practices in the funeral industry www.funerals.org
Funeral Ethics Organization www.funeralethics.org
Green Burial Council www.greenburialcouncil.org
Home Funeral Directory http://homefuneraldirectory.com
Home Funerals http://homefuneral.info
Honoring Choices Minnesota Health Care Directive http://metrodoctors.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=48&Itemid=77
Minnesota Funeral Planning, with links to vendors around the state www.mnfuneralplanning.com
Morning Star Singers, volunteers who sing for free at hospices, hospitals, nursing homes, and private homes within the Twin Cities http://www.morningstarsingers.org
Mound Cemetery of Brooklyn Center, a hybrid green burial ground certified by the Green Burial Council. 3515 69th Avenue North, Brooklyn Center, MN 55429, 952-935-0954.
National Home Funeral Alliance, educating families about end-of-life choices, including natural death care and home funerals.
Natural Transitions: provides education on conscious, holistic, and green approaches to end of life, including family-directed after-death care. Publishes Natural Transitions Magazine. www.naturaltransitions.org
Resource Guide: A Manual for Home Funeral Care. Elizabeth Knox
Free download at www.crossings.net
Trust for Natural Legacies, a non-profit land trust working to preserve and restore natural areas and establish green cemeteries throughout the Midwest.
www.naturallegacies.org
Undertaken With Love: A Home Funeral Guide for Congregations and Communities
Free download at www.homefuneralmanual.org
Waconia Casket Company, building solid wood caskets for direct sale to the public. For green burials can be made with no metal parts. www.waconiacasketcompany.com
Willow: Navigating Choices for Traditional and Home Funerals through education, consulting, and resources, from Judy Tills and Susan Shopek http://www.willowmn.com/
Willwerscheid Natural Burial and Cremation, 1167 Grand Avenue, St Paul, MN, 651.457.7938 http://willwerscheid.com/. Funeral director Steve Willwerscheid offers environmentally-friendly funerals.
Films
A Family Undertaking, a full-length PBS documentary on the growing home funeral movement follows several American families as they forgo a typical mortuary funeral to care for their loved ones at home. On Netflix. http://www.pbs.org/pov/afamilyundertaking/
The Most Excellent Dying of Theodore Jack Heckelman by Nancy Poer, a full-length documentary of the conscious dying and home funeral of the filmmaker’s brother. www.nancyjewelpoer.com
Passing Through Our Hands: A Home Funeral Guide, home funeral educator Donna Belk’s video guide for after-death care of a body.
www.passingthroughourhands.com
Articles
Alexander, Max, “The Surprising Satisfactions of a Home Funeral, Smithsonian, March 2009. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Presence-of-Mind-Which-Way-Out.html
Lilipoh: The Spirit in Life, Death & Dying: Home Funerals, Green Burials, Conscious Dying, Issue 62 Vol. 16, Winter 2011. http://www.lilipoh.com/articles/2010Issues/Winter 10/The_Call.aspx0
Purcell, Theresa, “Leaving a Natural Legacy,” Do It Green! Minnesota, November 1, 2009. http://www.doitgreen.org/article/health/LeavingaNaturalLegacy
Zezima, Katie, “Home Burials Offer an Intimate Alternative,” New York Times, July 20, 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/21/us/21funeral.html?_r=2&hpw
[...] learn about this option. The Network folks are available to give talks. And they have an excellent list of resources on their [...]
I am interested in becoming a member of the MN Threshold Care Network. Please add me to you contact list and inform me of any upcoming educational or networking opportunities. I am an interspiritual minister, specializing in hospice ministry, green funerals and burials, and educating spiritual communities in SE MN about these options. Thank you for the laying the foundation for this important work.
Rev Char Tarashanti biobalance240@charter.net 507-289-0720
Mound Cemetery Of Brooklyn Center becomes certified green funeral provider in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota
Mound Cemetery of Brooklyn Center has been certified as a “hybrid greenburial cemetery” offering end-of-life services that are ecologically conscious to minimize long-term environmental impacts.
Green burial providers adopt burial practices that are non-toxic and energy-conserving, including:
• Burial with non-toxic, biodegradable burial containers.
• Burial without the use of formaldehyde-based embalming chemicals.
• Burial without the use of burial vaults.
Mound Cemetery Of Brooklyn Center was certified by the Green Burial Council (GBC), a nonprofit organization that advocates sustainable, economically viable burials and the restoration and stewardship of natural areas. Founded in 2005, the Green Burial Council certifies funeral service providers, burial grounds and product providers as green burial providers to address a “new ethic in death care.”
“We’re pleased to offer the Minneapolis/St Paul Metro communities with more options for the afterlife burial of their loved ones,” said Dan Kantar, cemetery manager. “Becoming ‘green certified’ is another way in which Mound Cemetery is responding to the unique, evolving desires of its customers.”
To learn more, visit http://www.moundcemetery.com or the GBC’s website at http://www.greenburialcouncil.org