Growing numbers of Atlantans choosing cremation

Sources: Southern Cremations & Funerals, the Cremation Association of North America and the National Funeral Directors Association

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Southern Cremations & Funerals at Cheatham Hill, www.southerncremations.com, 770-919-7100

Georgia Cremation Centers, www.georgiacremationcenters.com, 678-398-9266

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q: What is cremation?

A: To begin with, it is probably easier to describe what cremation isn't. Cremation is not final disposition of the remains, nor is it a type of funeral service. Rather, it is a process of reducing the human body to bone fragments using high heat and flame.

Q: Is a casket needed for cremation?

A: No, a casket is not required for cremation. All that is usually required by most states is an alternative container constructed of wood or cardboard, which is cremated with the body. In some states, no container is required.

Q: Is embalming required prior to cremation?

A: Absolutely not and it is against the law for a funeral home to tell you otherwise.

Q: Can the body be viewed without embalming?

A: Yes, most cremation providers allow immediate family members to briefly view the deceased prior to cremation.

Q: Can the family witness the cremation?

A: Yes, in many cases, cremation providers will allow family members to be present when the body is placed into the cremation chamber. In fact, some religious groups include this as part of their funeral custom.

Q: Is cremation accepted by all religions?

A: Today most religions allow cremation except for Orthodox Jewish, Islamic, Eastern Orthodox and a few fundamentalist Christian faiths. The Catholic Church accepts cremation as long as it is not chosen for reasons that are contrary to Christian teachings.

Source: The Internet Cremation Society

Even before his death in 2013, John Joyce’s family knew they’d someday make the trip back to Ireland to lay his body to rest because that was his wish.

And so days after a funeral service at Southern Cremations & Funerals at Cheatham Hill Memorial Park, the entire family returned to Howth Head, a suburb of Dublin and the site of the Joyce family plot.

None of that, his daughter Denise Joyce said, would’ve been possible had her father not also chosen cremation, an option that has been growing in popularity in recent years.

“It allowed us to honor his wishes and bring him back home,” Joyce said.

Fifty years ago, cremation was considered almost sacrilegious in the United States, but according to the Cremation Association of North America, it’s the preferred choice in nearly 50 percent of deaths.

“We’ve been seeing a spike at least since the 1980s, when funeral homes were required to disclose it as an option,” said Poul Lemasters, cremation counsel and education coordinator for the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association.

Lemasters attributes the spike to the economy, lower costs and the shift away from organized religion.

“It’s quickly becoming the new tradition,” he said.

Christine Hunsaker, owner of Southern Cremations & Funerals at Cheatham Hill Memorial Park in Marietta, agreed.

“The trend line for traditional burials is going straight down, and cremation is very rapidly going up,” said Hunsaker, who followed her father into the funeral business. “We’re nearly at about 50/50 in Atlanta, where nearly half are cremation and the other are burials.”

Why?

“Most of us don’t live or die in the same town where we grew up anymore,” said Hunsaker, a former senior vice president at Stewart Enterprises, a large publicly traded funeral company. “Cremation is also perceived as cleaner and simpler, and it’s an established fact that it is less expensive than traditional burial, which can cost anywhere between $5,000 and $10,000 compared to $500-$5,000 for a cremation, depending on what you want. Plus it’s a lot easier to logistically move around and memorialize an urn, versus a 4-by-8-foot casket.”

That was clearly a motivating factor for the Joyces but not the only one.

Yes, John Joyce wanted to be buried in the same plot as other family members, but cremation made sense for other reasons, too, his daughter said.

“It’s more environmentally friendly,” she said.

In keeping with their Catholic faith, the Joyces held a traditional funeral Mass for John Joyce.

Cremation is becoming a growing part of contemporary Catholic practice and is used in about 20 percent of all funerals, said Pat Chivers, spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Atlanta.

And though different teachings dictate what churches can do with cremains, Chivers said the archdiocese prefers the body be brought in to the Catholic Church for a traditional funeral Mass.

While the archdiocese supports the practice, she said, Catholic teaching continues to stress the preference for burial or entombment of the body of the deceased, done in imitation of the burial of Jesus.

“Catholic teaching insists that cremated remains must be given the same respect as the body, including the manner in which they are carried and the attention given to their appropriate transport and placement,” she said. “The cremated remains of a body are to be buried or entombed, preferably in a Catholic cemetery.”

To meet demand, Southern Cremations not only offers its customers one-stop shopping that includes a historic cemetery and a brand-new funeral home, but a world-class crematory operation with a garden that has memorialization options for as many as 4,000 people.

“We are creating a space for future generations who want cremation,” Hunsaker said. “We’re taking it to the next step and doing what our industry should’ve been doing all along. The beautiful thing is that we’re doing it with robust landscape, water features, committal shelters and pavilions all so families can come and celebrate their loved ones. It creates a permanent place for the generations that follow. “

Those who choose cremation for themselves or a loved one often take the urn home because they don’t think they have choices for the long-term care, memorialization and protection of the urn. Instead of taking urns home to be forgotten, Hunsaker said clients can place them there in the cremation garden at Cheatham Hill Memorial Park, which is a perpetual care cemetery that, unlike some church, community or city cemeteries, is protected by a perpetual care trust fund. The garden has permanent memorials for any budget, and anyone can bring their loved one’s cremated remains (or urn) for placement there.

Without this, urns are often banished to the attic or closet to be forgotten or discarded by younger family members who either didn’t know the deceased or don’t feel a connection to them. Some have ended up in garage sales or river bottoms, she said.

“They become a burden for the next generation,” she said.

When they started this journey, Denise Joyce, of Norcross, said she didn’t know what to do or what to expect.

“It was very important to my mom that we had an open casket service at the Catholic Church with a casket that could be utilized through the services and the cremation process so my dad was not disturbed,” she said. “He had suffered many years through failed surgeries and then chemo and radiation therapy for brain cancer. Once he passed, we wanted him disturbed as little as possible. We needed to know that he was in good hands.”

Joyce, who with her mother, Barbara, plans to be cremated, said that after visiting several funeral homes, they were sure Southern Cremations & Funerals would take care of their loved one through the entire process, from embalming to cremation to the wake services and church services.

“All (my family) had to do was take care of each other through our mourning and focus on the wonderful memories we had to share,” she said.

The best part, perhaps, she said, was the variety of urns Southern offered.

“As they learned about my dad and family, our counselor at Southern Cremation asked if we would like to engrave a picture of a Cessna plane above his name,” she said. “Dad used to fly Cessnas. I was able to choose a picture that I knew he would just love.”