“My husband and I are both going to be cremated when we die,” said local artist Ginger-Lou Fulton. “We have, in fact, already pre-paid for it with the Cremation Society of Georgia.” Both of her parents were cremated, she said. “I buried them in a beautiful garden in my backyard, just outside my studio garden fence. I have a bench there and copper crosses I made for each. On my mother’s cross, I attached a row of cut crystal tears. I can go there and sit. I plant lots of beautiful flowers there. I prefer this over having them buried in a cemetery somewhere.” There are a number of reasons people are moving, in death, from traditional burial plots to urns. One is the Catholic church’s change in policy (the church outlawed cremation until 1963). Bishops are even allowed in some cases to permit a funeral mass with cremated
remains present. Another reason: As more Americans live farther away from their hometowns and extended families, family burial plots have become far less common. But the main reason for the change is undoubtedly the cost. While the average funeral cost today tops $7,000, a cremation can go for as low as $600. In a tight economy, money matters — even in death. Cost was a definite factor in Fulton’s family’s decisions, since cremation is “far cheaper.” But there are other reasons, too. “I would prefer my loved ones to remember me how I was when I was alive instead of having a mental image branded in their memory of my lying in a satintufted coffin, a lifeless shell of who I used to be,” she said. “I have never thought that embalmed corpses very much resembled the live person who previously occupied the body.”
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Still, Fulton says, older cemeteries like Oak Hill offer a bit of wistful romance, even if they’re becoming less practical and less affordable. “As far as cemeteries are concerned, I am intrigued. I sometimes walk around cemeteries, particularly very old ones, and read the tombstones, imagining what might have happened during a person’s time here on Earth — how they met their demise, why they died so quickly or lived so long,” she said. “I also like the artistic shape of crosses and tombstones. When we were traveling in the Caribbean a few years ago, some of their cemeteries are made up of little raised houses, above ground, for the graves. Very intriguing and beautiful. I would have loved spending a longer time there exploring.” Of course, it’s possible to have the best of both worlds, and have the “cremains” laid to rest in a cemetery, she points out.
COWETA MEDICAL CENTER WEIGHT LOSS CENTER Physician Supervised
F. D. Bass, M. D., F.A.C.S.
32 Jackson Street • Newnan, Georgia 30263
(770) 251-5597
There’s growing scientific literature documenting the relationships between health and nutrition, exercise, mental attitude, relaxation, and other lifestyle habits. For a lifestyle that involves these relationships, call and enroll in a program under the supervision of a physician that will enable you to reach and maintain your ideal body weight, exercise your cardiovascular system and help prevent such diseases as diabetes, heart attack, strokes, hypertension, and cancer.
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Branch Banking and Trust Company is a Member FDIC and an Equal Housing Lender. Loans are subject to credit approval. Only deposit products are FDIC insured. © 2013, Branch Banking and Trust Company. All rights reserved.
Coweta Medical Center offers a quality weight-reduction program that is supervised by F. Donald Bass, M.D.
For more detailed information or an appointment,
please call Coweta Medical Center at (770) 251-5597.
september /october 2013
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