I mentioned in a previous post that we have had to begin the planning for Elegante Mother’s funeral. She is in her nineties now and I suppose we should have done this long ago. It’s quite eye-opening to have to make choices for a loved one.
Elegante Mother requested that we choose a simple casket, and we were able to honor her wishes. I knew that the casket would go into a vault, but I thought the cemetery would provide the vault. I was surprised that we were encouraged to choose a vault at the funeral home. I’ve always assumed that a vault is leak proof, and was required to preserve the water table below the cemetery. Actually, the reason for a vault is to prevent damage and/or cave-ins when the cemetery employees dig the space for the internment. Who knew!?
We were shown about a dozen examples of vaults, and I want you to know that they were all garish, and in bad taste, and they ran from $1300 to four or five thousand dollars! We ultimately chose the least expensive, since no one will see it, and also chose a color that we felt was more suitable. I was really upset to find that they are NOT leak proof!
We also arranged for obituaries to be posted in three large local newspapers, three smaller newspapers and two weeklies. EM has friends and family spread across the Midwest who will need to be informed of her passing. Did you know that the standard charge for an obit in a large city newspaper is $254.00??
I can’t imagine having to make these choices when you have just lost a loved one. I can see that Dear Husband and I have a little more planning to do so that his children, or my family don’t have to try to figure out what our wishes might have been.