Green Burial & Home Funeral

Community Spotlight

On Mondays, I will highlight upcoming community events, opportunities, and people of interest. Send items to patty@center4cby.com.

Demystifying Natural Death Care: Green Burial and Home Funeral
A presentation and discussion by Merilynne Rush, owner of After Death Home Care & Jack Goodnoe, Landscape Architect and Cemetery Planner

Monday, May 10, 7–9pm
At the Frutig Family Barn
8040 Scio Church, Ann Arbor (1/4 mile east of Parker Rd.)

  • What is green burial?
  • Is it available locally?
  • When is embalming required?
  • What is “home funeral?”
  • Is burial on my own property possible?
  • What are the costs?

Birth and death-the two ends of life’s continuum. I first head the word “midwife” in 1969, in a letter from my brother who was serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand. As a health worker, he was stationed near the midwife’s hut in the village. He wrote about the natural, simple way that death was handled in the village, contrasting it to the typical American funeral experience. Author Jessica Mitford also wrote about these two experiences in her books, The American Way of Death and The American Way of Birth. So, I suppose I should not be surprised that retired midwife Merilynne Rush now feels drawn to “midwife” people through the transition at the other end of the continuum.

Planning ahead is essential if you are interested in this topic.

Posted by Patty on May 10, 2010 • Filed under Community Spotlight (Mondays)
Comments (1)

Comments

One Response to “Green Burial & Home Funeral”

  1. Merilynne Rush on May 11th, 2010 at 4:13 pm:

    Thanks, Patty. It’s not such a stretch to now work with people as they care for their loved one at home after death. It’s a very intimate time of transition. I’m using all my skills I learned as a midwife working with families in their home as they grieve in this powerful way. As one client put it: “Caring for mom at home was intense, but I’m so glad we did it. We waded through the process instead of skirting around it and now I feel relieved.”