LIFESTYLES
Stories by Jenny Brannan
Kansan staff writer
Katie de Bord, Denver junior, has her funeral planned out down to the flowers. She's not planning on dying anytime soon though—she's only 29 years old. De Bord just wants to have a say in what happens to her body after she dies.
"It sums up who you were, and it's often people's last memory of you," de Dord said about funeral services. "I want people to remember me for who I am, not who they thought I was. That's why I'm planning it myself."
Many students like de Bord have given at least some thought to the type of service they want after their death. Although they might not have it worked out down to the type of flowers they would like, it's never too early to begin examining the options.
De Bord said she doesn't want a traditional burial. Instead she wants to be cremated and have her ashes scattered over white cliffs near the Adriatic sea.
"Cremation is a lot more liberating than being stuffed in a coffin," de Bord said. "I find coffins very morbid, and I don't think of death as morbid."
De Bord said the last memory she had of her deceased grandmother was at her funeral. Because of this, she said she felt cremation would help the family to remember the living image of the person instead of the corpse.
"The last time I saw my grandmother she was dead in her casket," de Bord said. "That's not a very good memory. I'd prefer to remember her alive."
Sarah Fox, Tulsa sophomore, said she also had cremation in mind for her body. Like de Bord, Fox has a similar image of her grandparents that she wants to avoid for herself.
Fox, who studies painting, said she felt a funeral should be the final impression a person leaves on the world. She wants to design her own tombstone.
"If I'm an artist, then I want to leave a final mark of what I've been," Fox said.
Fox said she had not thought about the details of her service yet because she knew she would not die the same person she was today. She said it did not make much sense to plan something now when she knew she would experience much change and growth in her life between now and the time she died.
Another important consideration when choosing a service for the body involves family tradition and children left behind, said Alfred Yost, director of Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home, 601 Indiana St.
Although some people officially begin planning in their 20s and 30s, Yost said most people wait until after 50 to give the issue close consideration and finalized plans.
"A lot of things are dictated by the children in the family," Yost said. "A lot of children can't handle cremation and things like that."
Yost said there was no difference in the preparation methods for the body in traditional burial and in cremation. In both cases, the body must be embalmed shortly after death. When bodies are embalmed, their blood is replaced with preservatives to delay decay.
There is no law requiring the embalming process in Kansas, but if a body is not embalmed, it must be either cremated or buried no longer than 24 hours after death. Yost said.
For people who want to view the body, however, embalment becomes necessary as a preservation method. Many people, whether they choose cremation or traditional burial, have the body present at the memorial service. After the service, the
body can go to the crematory or to the burial site.
When a body is cremated, it is placed in a casket and burned over direct flames. The process takes about three to five hours.
The services offered at Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home include a chapel or church funeral service and burial, a graveside service, a contemporary cremation service at a chapel or church, a direct cremation without a service or donating the body to the medical center of choice for research.
"We let people have what they want, and we offer it all to them," *Yost said*. "I wouldn't want anyone telling me what to do with my body, so we don't try to influence anybody either. We're here to serve the public, whatever they want."
Yost said there had been a slight increase in the number of
cremations in recent years, but most people stick with how their former family members were buried. He said he encouraged people to prearrange and prefinance their funerals so that the current prices would be guaranteed. Money for prefinanced funerals goes into special funds that generate interest to pay for the price difference that might occur by the time someone died.
Jenna Brady, Prairie Village, junior, said she cared about her funeral more for her family's sake than for her own. She prefers traditional burial because of the idea that her family will always know exactly where she lies.
"I think the funeral and burial process is therapeutic for the people who are left behind," Brady said. "I also want my family to have a place to come remember me at."
Donating your body to science is one option
Renee Redmond, Wichita, sophomore, would not donate her body to science.
"I'd rather donate my organs where they can help someone live," she said.
Redmond, a physical therapy major, said she is taking anatomy next semester and she thinks the people who donate their bodies to science are noble for helping the education process.
It's just not for her.
KU's Willed Body Program provides the cadavers for undergraduate and graduate level studies in medicine.
Illustration by Micah Laaker
Charles Thomas, director of the program and a physician, said that this option was as easy as filling out simple forms, mailing them back to the University of Kansas Medical Center and receiving a card to carry in a purse or billfold that identifies the donor as part of the program. Once these simple steps have been taken, there is no need to be in contact with the Med Center until the time of death.
When a donor dies, the Med Center is notified and the body is transferred there, usually within eight to 10 hours after death. The family takes responsibility for the transport from the hospital or place of death to the Med Center. That is the only cost—about $100—to the family.
The most common causes of death include cancer
Most donors are white and between 70 to 90 years old. When the students receive the bodies they know the age, gender and cause of death. But the donor's names are kept confidential.
and heart failure.
Cadavers cannot come from accident victims or mutilated bodies, but bodies that have had autopsies can be used.
When the bodies come into the Med Center immediately following death, they are either embalmed within 24 hours for future use in the anatomy laboratories on campus, or they are used within 24 to 48 hours for surgical research.
Thomas said that this program provided doctors with a chance to perfect new and old surgical procedures that save
The bodies that become embalmed remain at the Med Center for at least six months. The chemicals must make the flesh firm so that incisions can be made cleanly and easily.
"The purpose of our program is to further medical education." Thomas said.
He said the only reason someone would be turned down as a donor would be if they had a communicable disease such as AIDS or if the body had not been embalmed for an extended period after death.
Many of the cadavers are used in University anatomy classes and then are returned to the Willed Body Program where they are cremated. After cremation, the family receives notification that the ashes of the deceased are available if they want them.
The ashes are then returned to the family through registered mail, Thomas said.
If the family decides they don't want the ashes, an interdenominational service occurs each year in Lawrence for the donors.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Cultural Calendar
EXHIBITIONS AND LECTURES
Spencer Museum of Art Exhibitions—Land and its Uses: Photography from the Collection, Sept. 3-Dec. 31; Sculptural Concerns: Contemporary American Metalworking, Nov. 5-Dec. 18; From Kashimir to Kutch: Textiles of Northwest India, Nov. 12-Jan. 8; NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, Dec. 1-11.
PERFORMANCES
University Symphony Orchestra presents "Beethoven's Birthday Concert," 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at the Lied Center. Tickets $6 public, $3 students and senior citizens.
Art and Design Department presents "Ninth Annual Evening of Performance Art," 8 p.m. tomorrow at the Art and Design Building Gallery. Kennedy Center presents "Alice in Wonderland," 2 p.m. Sunday at the Lied Center. Tickets $12, $10 public, $6, $5 KU, Haskell and K-12 students, $11, $9 other students and senior citizens.
Inge Theatre Series presents "O Ploneers!," 8 p.m. tonight and tomorrow in the Inge Theatre. Tickets $6 public, $3 KU students and $5 other students and senior citizens.
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