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Posted: 1/23/2020 2:44:26 PM EST
[#1]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Pure muscle,pick and ice picks. It is tough digging. Quote HistoryQuoted:
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How do you bury someone up there in the dead of winter? Isn't the ground frozen solid? It is tough digging. |
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Posted: 1/23/2020 3:50:27 PM EST
[#2]
I told my wife to let the hospital harvest whatever organs were still good and then dispose of my body in the cheapest manner possible
I originally wanted my body to be donated to science but it appears you have to pay for that privilege so screw that When I see people spend tens of thousands of dollars on funeral services coffins concrete vaults Etc it just looks like a huge waste of money to me |
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Posted: 1/23/2020 4:03:22 PM EST
[#3]
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Being from south Louisiana, this is completely foreign to me. We just bury them above ground in a concrete box 
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Posted: 1/23/2020 4:10:14 PM EST
[#4]
Central Vermont here - the town doesn't plow the cemetary during the winter, so if you kick off, then you're on ice until the spring thaw. For that reason, there are a large number of "memorial services" for folks that pass on up here in the winter.
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Posted: 1/23/2020 4:26:22 PM EST
[#5]
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Part yupik,sami and a bunch of other things. Quote HistoryQuoted:
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Just curious op, are you white, eskimo descendent or other? Diff cultures have diff rituals and all. There is a disconnect between life and death as the bodies basically just disappear for lack of a better term. I can only hope that I can go some way similar. I’m going to try to build my coffin. Only problem would be storage or if I get really fat. |
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Posted: 1/23/2020 4:34:19 PM EST
[#6]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I’ve seen pictures from the past of my people posing with a dead relative/neighbor. The body was in what is called a pinch-toe coffin. For the most part, no one is smiling. It was not unusual for as many as 2 dozen people surrounding the coffin on three sides in the picture. No one used to smile in any pictures way back in the day |
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Posted: 1/23/2020 5:11:42 PM EST
[#7]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
My neighbors father died in the winter and wanted to be buried in his home town in New Hampshire. They stored the body somewhere up there until springtime due to the frozen ground they said. Being from south Louisiana, this is completely foreign to me. Quote HistoryQuoted:
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How do you bury someone up there in the dead of winter? Isn't the ground frozen solid? It is tough digging. Being from south Louisiana, this is completely foreign to me. |
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Posted: 1/23/2020 7:02:09 PM EST
[#8]
I lived in SW VA . Some locals loaded their mothers casket up and headed home to the family cemetery. Was an odd sight seeing a beat to shit chevy 4x4 full of flowers and a casket.
Cousin in KY went to a a grave side service and had to help lower and fill in the grave. He said it started pouring the rain. We couldnt leave. He said I totally trashed that suit. Good for you going. |
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Posted: 1/23/2020 7:35:11 PM EST
[#9]
Over a year ago I had the honor of being on a civil war cannon crew where we shot the cremated remains of 2 of our fallen comrades.
One was at Camp Moore with their blessings and the other was at another site but I can't say because we could not get permission but did it anyway. |
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Posted: 1/23/2020 7:40:11 PM EST
[#10]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Yep. And they bury it on a hill overlooking the local runway. And if there isn't a hill then they bury it at the end of the runway. Swear to God, every place I flew up there had wooden crosses and grave markers within easy viewing of the runway. Sometimes it was part of the briefing. "We're landing RW36, winds out of the west at 45 knots, 100' ceilings, 1/2nm vis, if we have to go around we'll make a sharp turnout to the west due to rapidly rising terrain to the east. If we hit the terrain then at least we'll be in the right place because it's the cemetery." |
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Posted: 1/23/2020 7:43:12 PM EST
[#11]
In Detroit it is customary to leave the body laying in an alley, and on fire to destroy any DNA evidence
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Posted: 1/23/2020 9:57:50 PM EST
[#12]
Quoted:
One of the most touching stories I've ever heard was when my buddy in AK (Homer area) had to deal with the passing and burial of his mother. He was surprised at how much he was involved in the process. He's not a religious guy but the church his Mom went to helped transport and store the body, help dig the burial plot, etc. He googled "how to build a coffin" and proceeded to make his own pine box version. Long story short was that he found that his "closure" in the whole affair was a much more comforting event. He was involved in EVERY phase of the process and not isolated like in most people's experience of the process. Quoted:
My Dad wants something similar. He wants a pine box. I looked into it, commercially built $600 - $1400 depending on the options. Still kind of pricey imo, but hopefully it's better than some Home Depot 1x6's. He still wants everything else, but no metal coffin. I guess if I could get away with it, clean out a spot in the shed and keep me in there till you can get a hole dug. How about some 3/4" pressure treated plywood with some metal reinforcement on the corners. Maybe tack some 2x4's underneath so you could get underneath it with a forklift. When I was a kid, we had a friend of the family, he was 89. His father was some sort of field doctor in WWI and he tagged along for some of it as a teenager, he was too young to fight. I don't remember all the details, but he talked about building coffins and his job was to tack the cloth to the inside of the box. That wasn't that many generations ago. Dang thing was heavy but turned out beautiful. |
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Posted: 1/23/2020 10:07:03 PM EST
[#13]
Thanks everybody.
He traveled the world on ships in his youth at a time when it was not common for a alaskan native. He was a bit of a klutz and here are a couple examples. We were heading out to pick berries with him and his wife in two boats. Just after getting on step he reached down to fiddle with the bilge pump and while doing that ran up on the river bank. The wife picked up a oar and started hitting him on the back with it while cussing him out in Yupik. 
Another time he was starting a single burner coleman stove and it flared up on him. So he kicked it out the door of the fishcamp and caught his pants on fire. He was dancing around trying to put out the flames on his pants. 
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Posted: 1/23/2020 10:28:32 PM EST
[#14]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Thanks everybody. He traveled the world on ships in his youth at a time when it was not common for a alaskan native. He was a bit of a klutz and here are a couple examples. We were heading out to pick berries with him and his wife in two boats. Just after getting on step he reached down to fiddle with the bilge pump and while doing that ran up on the river bank. The wife picked up a oar and started hitting him on the back with it while cussing him out in Yupik.
Another time he was starting a single burner coleman stove and it flared up on him. So he kicked it out the door of the fishcamp and caught his pants on fire. He was dancing around trying to put out the flames on his pants. |
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Posted: 1/23/2020 10:34:55 PM EST
[#15]
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I’ve flown more than a few coffins. Edit: story below |
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Posted: 1/23/2020 10:38:30 PM EST
[#16]
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Freaks out all the newbs when you have to fit a coffin in a 207. 
Now they fly mostly in 208 or casa. |
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Posted: 1/23/2020 10:40:41 PM EST
[#17]
When I lived and worked in Emmonak, we sometimes had to store corpses in the dental clinic until the Troopers released the body or families from surrounding villages could pay their respects...
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Posted: 1/23/2020 10:47:52 PM EST
[#18]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I told my wife to let the hospital harvest whatever organs were still good and then dispose of my body in the cheapest manner possible I originally wanted my body to be donated to science but it appears you have to pay for that privilege so screw that When I see people spend tens of thousands of dollars on funeral services coffins concrete vaults Etc it just looks like a huge waste of money to me If you make arrangements in advance, the University of Missouri will take your remains for no charge and return your ashes one year later. Your family will need to pay for the transport of your body to the university. Both of my parents did this and the process was seamless. I don’t know for a fact, but I would imagine most teaching universities would have a similar donation process. |
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Posted: 1/23/2020 10:50:31 PM EST
[#19]
Sorry for your loss OP.
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Posted: 1/23/2020 10:50:58 PM EST
[#20]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
When I lived and worked in Emmonak, we sometimes had to store corpses in the dental clinic until the Troopers released the body or families from surrounding villages could pay their respects... Edit: sorry OP, I don’t mean to detract from your loss. My condolences. |
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Posted: 1/23/2020 10:51:06 PM EST
[#21]
Quoted:
Went to say goodbye to a cousin last night since i cannot be there for the funeral. 
You see the body on the floor on a pallet waiting for the homemade coffin. Kids ranging in age from baby to teenagers playing and looking at the body. Food of all kinds. A ton of people coming and going. Lots of laughing,talking and crying. House kept cold to preserve the body till funeral. Incence burning and icons. |
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Posted: 1/23/2020 10:58:52 PM EST
[#22]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
That's life in a non-sterilized, no single serving packaging world. Good on op for saying goodbye. Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
That's weird af |
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Posted: 1/23/2020 11:15:13 PM EST
[#23]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Sorry for your lost op. Traditions are a good thing. |
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Posted: 1/23/2020 11:19:22 PM EST
[#24]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I agree with the guy stating how much closure there is when you have a body to work with. To each his own. |
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Posted: 1/23/2020 11:20:04 PM EST
[#25]
When my paternal grandpa died he wanted to be buried on the highest hill in the pasture overlooking the family farm. Dad tried to get it done but turns out it's illegal. Around here you have to be buried in a cemetery.
Fucking stupid if you ask me. |
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Posted: 1/23/2020 11:20:38 PM EST
[#26]
Is anyone here from Emmonak or the surrounding villages? If so, perhaps we've met..
Quote HistoryQuoted: Ah yes. Good ‘ol Emo... Edit: sorry OP, I don’t mean to detract from your loss. My condolences. |
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Posted: 1/23/2020 11:20:43 PM EST
[#27]
Quote HistoryQuoted: 46 years old. Fewer days ahead than behind. |
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Posted: 1/23/2020 11:21:58 PM EST
[#28]
Sorry about your cousin, OP.
I love the AK bush, I'll be up there in a month again (last time was Nov), every time I go I dont want to leave. Ever. |
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Posted: 1/23/2020 11:23:12 PM EST
[#29]
Quoted:
Went to say goodbye to a cousin last night since i cannot be there for the funeral.
You see the body on the floor on a pallet waiting for the homemade coffin. Kids ranging in age from baby to teenagers playing and looking at the body. Food of all kinds. A ton of people coming and going. Lots of laughing,talking and crying. House kept cold to preserve the body till funeral. Incence burning and icons. |
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Posted: 1/23/2020 11:23:57 PM EST
[#30]
My condolences OP, sounds like he was a pretty good guy...
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Posted: 1/23/2020 11:36:31 PM EST
[#31]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
that, and the idea of my preserved body sitting in the ground for god knows how long really creeps me out. Cremate my ass and do whatever makes you happy with the ashes. Quote HistoryQuoted:
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nothing wrong with any of that. what is wrong is spending 10k on a coffin, being pumped full of embalming fluid and buried 6 feet down in the ground. dust to dust, ashes to ashes, not dust to preserved like a specimen in a jar full of alcohol. |
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Posted: 1/23/2020 11:38:21 PM EST
[#32]
Quote HistoryQuoted: There I was, trying to stuff a heavy wooden crate into the nose of a 207, I didn't want to put it in back because CG... anyway I had to rotate it and was kinda being rough, you know, gotta make it fit... well suddenly half the ramp crew came running over yelling at me to knock it off and put it in back... turns out it was a coffin with a baby in it and the mother was watching from the terminal window. I felt bad but there was no heads up and no markings. It was just a plywood crate made of obvious scrap wood... yeah. Such is life in the bush. Most people know you have to turn them on their sides and manhandle the coffins to get them in the 207s. Generally we tried to do it out of sight but there are times you could not help it. Brought my mom to her home village in the back of a pick-up truck by river ice road. We had to fix her up a little from all the bouncing around.
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Posted: 1/23/2020 11:44:37 PM EST
[#33]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I still remember older relatives talking about sitting up with the dead in decades past...………..that was always weird to me, but commonplace back then Hopefully this brightens y’all’s day. AKCaribou, I’m sorry for your loss, May God Bless you and the grieving family.  Weyman C. Wannamaker Jr. and Uncle Cleve.wmv |
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Posted: 1/23/2020 11:52:04 PM EST
[#34]
Sorry for your loss OP.
Like many have said, that sounds just fine to me. Happened to run across this earlier today and found the information helpful in confirming what I want when that time comes for me. No embalming, no expensive casket. Bare minimum only https://funerals.org/consumers/ |
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Posted: 1/23/2020 11:56:56 PM EST
[#35]
I lived in Bethel for a couple of years. There's not much left in this world that seems "strange" to me after that experience.
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Posted: 1/24/2020 12:03:01 AM EST
[#36]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I’d be perfectly happy being left out for scavengers, but since that’s unlikely to be legal I could go for something like this. |
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Posted: 1/24/2020 12:17:01 AM EST
[#37]
I think it’s a beautiful way to say goodbye and be laid to rest in a long begone way.
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Posted: 1/24/2020 12:17:03 AM EST
[#38]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Is anyone here from Emmonak or the surrounding villages? If so, perhaps we've met.. I used to fly there daily when I was based in Bethel, did a few months worth of shifts based in Emo too, 2008-2012. |
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Posted: 1/24/2020 12:17:53 AM EST
[#39]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
If you make arrangements in advance, the University of Missouri will take your remains for no charge and return your ashes one year later. Your family will need to pay for the transport of your body to the university. My mom decided to follow him, and has a card from there, with it prearranged that her body will be donated. No charge, but as Rbt said we'll have to get her body there. I have a friend who is a funeral director in Jefferson City (where my mom is), and it's already arranged with him to take her when the time comes. I would suggest calling them, and asking about donating there. |
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Posted: 1/24/2020 1:11:08 AM EST
[#40]
Quote HistoryQuoted: @stpolaris I used to fly there daily when I was based in Bethel, did a few months worth of shifts based in Emo too, 2008-2012. |
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Posted: 1/24/2020 1:31:14 AM EST
[#41]
Seems normal to me.
I’d go with a funeral pyre. |
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Posted: 1/24/2020 1:32:51 AM EST
[#42]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
nothing wrong with any of that. what is wrong is spending 10k on a coffin, being pumped full of embalming fluid and buried 6 feet down in the ground. dust to dust, ashes to ashes, not dust to preserved like a specimen in a jar full of alcohol. |
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Posted: 1/24/2020 1:42:16 AM EST
[#43]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
My Dad wants something similar. He wants a pine box. I looked into it, commercially built $600 - $1400 depending on the options. Still kind of pricey imo, but hopefully it's better than some Home Depot 1x6's. He still wants everything else, but no metal coffin. I guess if I could get away with it, clean out a spot in the shed and keep me in there till you can get a hole dug. How about some 3/4" pressure treated plywood with some metal reinforcement on the corners. Maybe tack some 2x4's underneath so you could get underneath it with a forklift. When I was a kid, we had a friend of the family, he was 89. His father was some sort of field doctor in WWI and he tagged along for some of it as a teenager, he was too young to fight. I don't remember all the details, but he talked about building coffins and his job was to tack the cloth to the inside of the box. That wasn't that many generations ago. They own a cabinetry shop and their dad insisted on nothing fancy They built replica of Pope John Paul's casket https://journalstar.com/news/local/in-labor-of-love-and-loss-sons-build-father-s/article_5b097e66-e7f8-56ce-aa33-f4954887ce81.html |
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Posted: 1/24/2020 1:48:33 AM EST
[#44]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I’ve seen pictures from the past of my people posing with a dead relative/neighbor. The body was in what is called a pinch-toe coffin. For the most part, no one is smiling. It was not unusual for as many as 2 dozen people surrounding the coffin on three sides in the picture. Now it's just tacky. |
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Posted: 1/24/2020 2:03:08 AM EST
[#45]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Way back when cameras were few and photos were expensive, the only picture you might take of a relative was when they died. Now it's just tacky. Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
I’ve seen pictures from the past of my people posing with a dead relative/neighbor. The body was in what is called a pinch-toe coffin. For the most part, no one is smiling. It was not unusual for as many as 2 dozen people surrounding the coffin on three sides in the picture. Now it's just tacky. |
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Posted: 1/25/2020 6:46:56 AM EST
[#46]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Friends of mine did something similar They own a cabinetry shop and their dad insisted on nothing fancy They built replica of Pope John Paul's casket https://journalstar.com/news/local/in-labor-of-love-and-loss-sons-build-father-s/article_5b097e66-e7f8-56ce-aa33-f4954887ce81.html My dad will be cremated when it’s his time. He’s asked me to build my mom’s casket when it’s her time, put him in a mason jar and tuck him in with her. They’ve always been big on home canning, and he says she’s been taking care of him for 45 years. Seems appropriate. |
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Posted: 1/25/2020 7:25:24 AM EST
[#47]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
How do you bury someone up there in the dead of winter? Isn't the ground frozen solid? |
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Posted: 1/25/2020 7:34:39 AM EST
[#48]
MIL passed away last week, no embalming, pine coffin same as FIL a few years ago. In the western end of North Carolina with the exception of incense and icons same process 2 generations ago. Sorry for your loss op.
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Posted: 1/25/2020 7:35:07 AM EST
[#49]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
How do you bury someone up there in the dead of winter? Isn't the ground frozen solid? My brother in law worked at a local Mass cemetery as a kid, and volunteers as town manager for the same one as an adult. There are machines to heat the ground in the outline of the vault so it unfreezes enough to dig through the frost line. Also, a backhoe can make things much easier. This works too. Alaska may be different as it freezes much deeper in some places. 
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Posted: 1/25/2020 8:03:17 AM EST
[#50]
A guy my brother knew died and they had to wait for his coffin to be finished. Metal coffin in gloss black with flames and red pinstriping. Pretty fine sendoff for an old hotrodder.
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