Life in the Garden

Matters of Life and Death

Memorial Service Ideas

Tara’s Funeral and Cremation

My friend Kristen sent me the beautiful story of Claire Rudholm, also known as Tara, who passed away in 2004. After a stage-4 cancer diagnosis she was given 'weeks to months' to live, she was only 33. Tara expressed a desire to return to southern India to the Sivananda ashram where she had lived and worked as a karma yogi. She requested a full traditional Hindu cremation, and that her remains be spread along the holy Ganges river. Through email and snapshots, Tara's friends documented the 5- 1/2 … [Read more...] about Tara’s Funeral and Cremation

Friend, Freedom Fighter and a High Lama

Bloomington, IN. Thubten J. Norbu, a former Indiana University professor and the oldest brother of the Dalai Lama, died Sept. 9, 2008 in Bloomington, Indiana. Norbu was regarded as a reincarnated saint. As mourners filed into his room dropping blue,yellow, and white silk blessing scarves at his feet, Norbu was positioned upright in his bed, seated in the lotus position and adorned with an ornate Buddhist head dress. Amid a fog of incense, eight robed monks sat along a wall chanting Tibetan … [Read more...] about Friend, Freedom Fighter and a High Lama

Consumer Corner

A new Missouri law gives you more control over what is done with your body after your death. Do you want to be buried, cremated, body donated to science? The authority to make this decision is known in legalese as "right of sepulcher." A DPA, or agent, is someone you name in a legal document to make medical decisions for you if can't speak for yourself. Under this new state law, the DPA has one additional power: right of sepulcher. In the past, next-of-kin had the final say on this issue. … [Read more...] about Consumer Corner

Permanent Privacy-Celebrity Unmarked Graves

The Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Westwood, California is full of dead celebrities, but surprisingly, several stars are buried in unmarked graves. Frank Zappa died from prostate cancer in 1993 and is located in Westwood Memorial park Section D, plot #100. Zappa was innovative and provocative musician, who later in life was an outspoken critic in the 1980's fight against labeling music recordings with warning stickers about the lyrics. He was very vocal about the implications of … [Read more...] about Permanent Privacy-Celebrity Unmarked Graves