Today, many people are choosing
cremation for a variety of reasons. White Chapel
Memorial Park Cemetery, from its very beginning,
has served those who choose cremation with dignity
and respect, and provides a wide array of options
for families to permanently memorialize and inter
their loved one after cremation at White Chapel.
Although it may not be apparent to us all, there
is good reason behind the longhonored tradition
of visiting the final resting place of family
and close friends. Psychologists are aware of
the importance of establishing a permanent memorial
site as it provides a focal point for our grief,
without which the trauma of bereavement may be
prolonged to a potentially damaging extent.
There is a somewhat common misconception about
cremation that suggests it is not conducive to
a permanent memorial, or that it limits one’s
choices. However, both are far from the truth.
Cremation allows for many memorialization options,
and as it gains in popularity, new doors are opened
to those who choose this route.
Cremation has gained in acceptance and popularity
in recent decades. Since 1973, the number of cremations
in North America has more than tripled. Now, there
is a host of choices of where to place cremated
remains to establish a memorial location. A niche
in a columbarium is a traditional option. Placing
one’s ashes in the burial site of a loved
one - even if they have not chosen cremation themselves has
gained in popularity. Today, it is common for
cemeteries to offer beautiful gardens, indoor
and outdoor mausoleums and columbarium units where
ashes may be interred forever and provide a permanent
place to personalize the memorialization with
their name, a poetic saying, a cameo portrait
and a flower vase for loved ones to visit and
remember.
The point is, cremation does allow one to establish
and even personalize a permanent memorial. And
memorialization in a cemetery is a logical choice.
While there is something undeniably poetic about
having one’s ashes strewn across a favorite
pond or tract of wilderness, there may be inherent
problems in choosing such a place as a memorial
site. One must think hard about what this means
to their descendants. Should they care to visit
the site, can they do so easily, conveniently,
without a great expenditure of time and/or money?
Can they do this whenever they want to or, more
importantly, feel a need to? And while this site
may be accessible to them now, can you rest assured
that it will not be developed for other uses or
closed to the public in the future?
White Chapel Memorial Park Cemetery has a wide
range of cremation options to choose from. |
