According to a letter owned by Phil Castinetti, the sports memorabilia king of New England, Red Sox legend Ted Williams had a longtime wish to be cremated immediately after his death. The letter, dated Dec. 19, 1991, is an authentic writing from the desk of Teddy Ballgame himself.

“It is my wish that no funeral or memorial service of any kind be held and that my remains be cremated as soon as possible after my death,” Williams wrote in the letter nearly two decades ago. “I want you to see that my ashes are sprinkled at sea off the coast of Florida where the water is very deep.”

Williams’ three children fought bitterly over the body of their legendary father.  In a perfect world, the letter in Castinetti’s collection would be used to do justice in the case of Ted Williams,  but rather than have his wishes carried out, Williams was taken to a lab in Arizona where his remains were kept suspended in liquid nitrogen.

Last year, a lab executive documented the brutal inhumane treatment of Williams’ head at the cryogenics center shortly after his death in 2002.

Ted Williams Death Mask

Rather than being scattered in Florida as he’d always wished, the body of the Red Sox legend was mutilated and disgraced.

In life, Williams never got the respect he deserved. The fans in Boston booed him, the media blasted him, his personal life was unstable and troubled. In death, Teddy Ballgame has been treated even worse.

Source:

ROME:

The Italian Bishops’ Conference is preparing to publish updated norms on funeral rites including cremation and the burial of ashes.

The manual, which will be reviewed and approved by the bishops’ conference in Assisi on November 9,  will explain that Catholic doctrine does not oppose cremation but rejects the practice of storing ashes of loved ones at home.  The document will stress that this is a violation of the work of mercy that obliges Catholics to provide a holy burial to the dead.

Keeping the ashes of the dead at home does away with the important rite of accompanying the deceased to the cemetery, “which unites the community of believers.”  Burying the ashes at a cemetery, the “place of the dead,” is what makes most sense, the bishops will add.

Scattering the ashes, according to the Italian bishops, is based on a pagan ritual that supposedly symbolized the union of the deceased with “the great soul of mother earth,” and is contrary to the Christian obligation, established by the Lord Jesus himself, to bury the dead.

Continue reading “Church in Italy to issue clarification on cremation”

Recently, I had the good fortune to connect with a local blogger who inspired me with several stories of her life experiences.  She graciously allowed me to share a very touching memorial service that she participated in:

My dear friend Leslie was my roommate my freshman year at Drury College and also a sorority sister.  She died of cancer in 1997 and Sally and I still are pissed at her because she naturally went out in the most awesome way.

Before she died, she instructed her husband, Bob,  to take a group of us to Monterey, CA for a weekend – all expenses paid at a B&B including gourmet meals and on her birthday, we all climbed aboard a boat and had the captain take us beyond the 3-mile mark where we had a memorial service and spread her ashes.

Bob brought her favorite flowers, coral roses, for us to throw on top of the ashes and we were all incredibly weepy until somone started telling “Leslie stories” which had us all in tears of laughter which lasted through her memorial luncheon at the Monterey Aquarium.  Leave it to Leslie to set the bar so damned high in life AND in death!

One of our families is planning a memorial service to be held on a cruise. The widower cleared it with the cruise line and explained that they’d like to scatter the ashes at sea. No problem, the urn just needs to be biodegradable.

The Journey biodegradable urn will work perfectly for a sea burial.

Thank you Princess Cruise Line for the referral.

As cremation has overtaken burial in California — about 52 percent of the dead are cremated, according to the National Funeral Directors Association — scatterings of remains have become a daily occurrence. Without anybody really noticing, San Francisco Bay has become an enormous burial ground.

Scatterings are done from boats, cliffs and the Golden Gate Bridge. Cemetery owner Buck Kamphausen said it is not unusual to see remains scattered off the back of ferries. He has found urns bobbing in the water. “We’ve done it at night, in the fog, in the rain. You have to say that if there is something spiritual about it, this is one of the most beautiful places in the world to have it done.”

Cremation does not appeal to everybody.

Mark Matthews, vice president of the Association of California Cremationists, said that for a variety of cultural reasons, Latinos and African Americans are less likely to cremate than other Californians. And he said higher-income people are more likely to cremate than people with less money.Several religions, including Judaism and Mormonism, frown on cremation. Islam forbids it.

“There are a lot of people that have died and are in the Bay,” said Curtis Brown, captain and operator of the Orca III, “Over the recent years, I’m sure there have been more people scattered in the water than buried in the Bay Area. I go out near the ocean, so ultimately the ashes can be scattered on the tides throughout the world. It’s kind of a liberating, freeing thing.”

Ashes dispersed off the Orca III in San Fransisco Bay, Angel Island in the background.

Today’s tip for better living: Perfect your swimming stroke.