On today's episode I speak with three members of the Pomerantz family, sisters Jennifer and Katie and their father, Sanford. It was almost exactly one year ago, November 13th, 2020,  that I met the family at Heart Land Prairie Cemetery where they buried Francine, the girls' mother and Sanford's wife of 51 years.
 
To find out more about HLPC, check out the website:
http://www.heartlandprairiecemetery.org/

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Bonni Goldberg shares the story of reckoning a complicated relationship with her mother by caring for her at the end of her life and after her death. The women in Bonni's family performed the taharah, a final act of great kindness in Jewish tradition, for Bonni's mother when she died. What followed was an Aquamation, also known as "water-cremation."
Bonni is an author of several books for young people and adults. To see her titles and read about her work visit her webpage at: https://bonnigoldberg.com/
She has written several essays on death under the pen name Batya, that you can read at the following links: https://medium.com/take-too/the-real-reason-i-wash-the-dead-63b0269edee8
https://psiloveyou.xyz/searching-through-my-fathers-ashes-70d5dad2f453
https://medium.com/take-too/meet-me-at-the-death-cafe-90280eb5b4c3
More on Aquamation here: https://aquamationinfo.com/

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Writer Maggie Jones shares with Sarah the after death care her family provided for both of her parents some 18 years apart. The experience of remaining with her father's body for a full night after his death, stayed with her and ultimately inspired her to write a story for the New York Times Magazine called The Movement to Bring Death Closer.
To learn more about Maggie's work visit her website, here: https://bymaggiejones.com/
You can find the NYT story here: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/19/magazine/home-funeral.html
And listen to the piece on The Daily, Sunday Read edition here: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/20/podcasts/the-daily/home-funeral-guides.html

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Diana Lindsay and her friend, home funeral guide Lucinda Herring, share the story of Kelly Lindsay's dying process and the family who gathered to accompany him on his final journey with brain cancer. Here are the links to Healing Circles, the support organization founded by Diana and Kelly: https://healingcircleslangley.org/ and https://healingcirclesglobal.org/#top
I mention in the introduction just a few of the things Healing Circles offers, but there is SO much more. It is really worth taking a look!
If you're interested in reading Diana and Kelly's book on caregiving and grappling with cancer or any other life-limiting illness you can find it on Amazon. Amazon Smiles will donate to the National Home Funeral Alliance if you select it when ordering.
https://smile.amazon.com/Something-More-Than-Hope-Everything/dp/099124270X/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=something+more+than+hope+diana&qid=1623966311&s=books&sr=1-1

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Lauren Carroll is a funeral director based in Colorado Springs. After finding out about home-based, family-centered after death care, Lauren devoted her practice to helping families create home funerals. On this episode we discuss everything from filing a death certificate to rigor mortis and body care. She is a co-founder of Deathwives, a non-profit death education and advocacy collective. Find out about the courses they offer here: https://deathwives.org/

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Aubrey Brinneman and her friend, home funeral guide Lauren Richwine recall the dying, death, home funeral and natural burial of Aubrey's husband, Tyler. Ty faced his diagnosis with a rare, aggressive cancer by being actively involved in preparing his young family for what was to come. If you are in Indiana and would like some support or have questions regarding holding a home funeral or natural burial, you can contact Lauren through her website: http://deathdonedifferently.com/
The shroud the couple ordered for Ty's natural burial came from Kinkaraco, Green Funeral Products.  https://kinkaraco.com/

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In this episode Ray Mulvey and his daughter Laurie describe the home funeral they arranged for Ray's wife of 58 years, Judy. Ray lives in New Jersey, one of the states that requires hiring a funeral director to oversee certain aspects of the funeral. Laurie is a resident of Pennsylvania and a member of her local chapter of the Funeral Consumers Alliance. To learn more about this important organization see their website here:  https://funerals.org/
The movie Laurie mentions watching is the 2003 PBS documentary called, A Family Undertaking.  It is available to order on DVD from Netflix.

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Gabrielle Walters shares the arduous journey she made alongside her husband, Billy, when he was struck with a devastating illness at the end of May 2020. Determined that he would not die in the hospital, Gabrielle brought him home on the day of their 30th wedding anniversary. Back at home, with his children and grandchildren present, Billy died the next day. Following her heart and with a little bit of knowledge about after-death care, Gabrielle tended to his body at home where he spent two nights before being cremated.

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This episode offers ideas for people interested in raising the awareness of alternative death care practices in their communities, as well as helpful things to consider when planning a home funeral. Rebecca Senoglu, chaplain and longtime member of the NHFA, shares her path working to raise the awareness of family centered after-death care through meetings with the hospital, forming relationships with locally owned funeral homes and creating public programs in Chico, California.  She also shares the details of a home funeral for a beloved member of her community. To listen to archived episodes of Rebecca's radio program go here: https://soundcloud.com/rebecca-senoglu
or here: https://www.facebook.com/The-Wheel-Mysteries-547640429035576
To learn more about hosting a Death Cafe: https://deathcafe.com/

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Adrienne Parker describes bringing her mother home where she died surrounded by three generations of family members.  After her death they spent time with her body in the parlor of the old Victorian house where Adrienne was living. The grandchildren filled their days decorating the cardboard coffin their great grandmother would be cremated in.

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