Florida
Cremation, green burials and celebrations of life: how Florida’s funeral norms are changing
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Erica Fresh was 18 the first time she attended a funeral with an open casket. She remembers looking at her cousin’s lifeless body and feeling heavy with dread.
“I had these horrible nightmares that night,” said Fresh, now a 38-year-old Dunedin resident. “I thought to myself, ‘Nope, that is not what I want to happen to me.’”
Customs around death are changing in the U.S. Just 30 years ago, traditional burials accounted for almost 80% of all end-of-life arrangements.
Today, that number has dropped to fewer than 40%, with the majority of people choosing cremation for themselves or their loved ones.
Such choices vary dramatically by state. In Mississippi, for example, some 34% of people who died last year were cremated, compared to nearly 72% in Florida. But cremation rates across the country continue to rise.
Driving the change are things like cost, transient populations and shifting religious values.
And though choosing cremation doesn’t necessarily mean forgoing a service or placement in a cemetery, research has found that about one in four American households keep cremated remains at home, with no plans for scattering or permanent memorialization.
“People decide they want to be cremated but don’t specify what they want to happen after,” said Barbara Kemmis, executive director of the Cremation Association of North America.
[ DIRK SHADD | Times ]
Kemmis said she’s heard stories of people contacting funeral homes with three or four urns — the ashes of loved ones who passed years before — unsure of what to do with the ashes and fearful of inheriting more.
The good news, said Kemmis, is a bevy of newer end-of-life options offer possible solutions. The key is knowing they exist.
Shifting norms
It took a while for cremation to catch on.
The country’s first crematory opened in southwestern Pennsylvania in 1876. Almost 100 years later, in 1970, only 5% of people who had died nationwide were cremated.
But between 1970 and today, that percentage has skyrocketed. Last year, according to preliminary data, the national cremation rate was about 61%.
Kemmis said cremation is often the more cost-effective option for families. As budgets tighten, she said, people gravitate toward affordability.
Last year, a full-service burial in the U.S. cost an average of around $8,300, according to the National Funeral Directors Association. Direct cremation — without a service — can ring up at about $1,000.
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Cultural shifts are also at play, Kemmis said. Fewer people today are religious, with more than a fourth of adults identifying as atheist, agnostic or unaffiliated. For those who are religious, traditions around death are evolving, too. In the 1960s, for example, the Catholic church ruled that cremation was an acceptable way to handle remains so long as the ashes were kept together, opening the option to congregants.
Today, families are more spread out than in the past, Kemmis said. People move from their hometowns, then move again. That can make choosing a final resting spot more difficult than in decades prior.
Cremation provides flexibility, Kemmis said, even for those who want to be memorialized in a cemetery.
“My father is buried in New York, and I’m going to be buried in the plot with him,” said JoAnn DeFrancesco, a 62-year-old Palm Harbor resident who moved south from Queens 22 years ago. “Shipping my body there would be astronomically expensive, so being cremated and then taken there is a lot easier.”
In a place like Florida, where 165,986 people were cremated last year — the second-most of all states — it’s an especially common story because of the transient population.
And in urban areas where land is limited, Kemmis said cremation helps extend the life of cemeteries. More cemeteries are offering options for cremated remains, such as the ability to entomb ashes or scatter them at designated sites.
Doing so at Arlington Cemetery in Virginia, which was expected to run out of room by the mid-2050s, has extended the life of the cemetery by 150 years.
Meeting needs
Death care professionals have had to adjust to the changing desires of clients, Kemmis said, and more crematories have opened to keep up.
Still, backlogs are extremely uncommon. The normal wait time for a cremation is about 5 to 10 days, experts said, but that can vary depending on factors like delays in legal paperwork or a body being released to the care of a funeral home.
Arin Rudd, lead funeral director of Florida Mortuary Funeral & Cremation Services in Tampa, said cremation accounts for about 90% of the services completed by her parent company, Foundation Partners, which operates more than 260 funeral homes and crematories across the country.
Rudd, a 30-year industry veteran, said the shift from burials to cremations has been accompanied by changes in attitudes around death and end-of-life commemoration, too. When she first started in the field, she said, funerals were times of mourning: people clad in black, quiet and respectful.
“Now, instead of the classic funeral with the casket, people are leaning more toward celebrations of life,” Rudd said.
Rudd said that’s meant being more creative and flexible to ensure clients’ needs are met.
An infographic from the Cremation Association’s annual report, released earlier this year, also urged workers to be adaptive.
“Consumers want to create a celebration of a life lived and will do so with or without the help of a funeral professional,” the infographic read. “Are you equipped to host families and provide the experience they want?”
A personalized touch
Through her work, Rudd has seen it all: People gathered in the parking lot, tailgate style, cracking beers with friends and family while sharing stories of their loved one before a service; funny slideshows and bubbling champagne, and the descendants’ favorite cookie being passed around the room.
At one family’s request, she placed a man in a canoe instead of a casket for the viewing — he was an avid outdoorsman who hated tight spaces. Another, she said, had his ashes propped up on the seat of his golf cart during his memorial.
As norms change, Rudd said, the options available to families have greatly expanded.
Today, there are green burials and tree pod burials, in which a body is laid to rest under a tree and acts as a source of nutrients for plant growth. Cremated remains can be made into remembrance stones and eternal reefs. DNA can be preserved.
“There’s so much more than the classic funeral,” Rudd said.
Alie Shaw, a Palm Harbor native, said she hadn’t thought much about her arrangements until she had kids a few years ago. When she learned that cremated remains could be turned into jewelry, she got excited.
Shaw said she wants her ashes to be made into a ring or a bracelet — a family heirloom that can be passed down for generations.
“My parents have burial plots, so they’re going the traditional route,” said Shaw, 32. “Just turn me into something beautiful.”
Despina Collins, 21, said she wants to be cremated and for her tattoos to be preserved and framed like art for those left behind.
“I’m a tattoo artist and I think it would be super cool,” Collins said. “I wouldn’t want a bunch of money to be spent just to put me in the ground.”
And for Fresh, the Dunedin resident who wants to be cremated, her request is simple. She said she wants her ashes to be mixed with those of her husband and her dogs, then to be scattered in the Gulf.
“I’m a Florida girl, born and raised, and all I want is to be back in the water,” Fresh said.
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News in 90: SpaceX weather, Cocoa Village hotel and crash arrest
FLORIDA TODAY’s Rob Landers brings you some of today’s top stories on the News in 90 Seconds.
Double sonic booms sounded through the Space Coast Tuesday afternoon as not one, but two Falcon 9 side boosters landed. GOES-U, the latest weather satellite by the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration, was headed to geostationary orbit, 22.236 miles above Earth. Its science should help to revolutionize not only weather imaging here on Earth but look at space weather that could impact our planet.
NOAA’s GOES-U satellite rose into space atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from Kennedy Space Center’s Pad 39A. The two-hour launch window opened at 5:16 p.m. EDT, but only an additional 10 minutes was needed to work around weather.
Launching atop a core Falcon 9 booster, supported by two shiny white Falcon 9s — the triple-core Falcon Heavy had given off a blinding five million pounds of thrust at liftoff. After boosting the satellite off the pad, the two new side boosters separated and landed at SpaceX’s Landing Zones 1 and 2 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The core booster, which was also new, was discarded over the ocean after doing its job.
When is the next Florida rocket launch? Is there a launch today? Upcoming SpaceX, NASA, ULA rocket launch schedule in Florida
Even though the rocket launched on Tuesday, the rocket was a bit late to the launch pad − not arriving until late Monday. SpaceX said an environmental control system, which keeps the satellite free of humidity and protected before launch, had been malfunctioning. This delayed the roll out of the rocket, as SpaceX teams opted to keep the spacecraft in the hanger to protect it until the system was fixed.
What is the GOES-U satellite?
This new weather satellite will not only enable earlier storm detection, but it will give forecasters more time to warn the public of approaching threats. GOES-U will also provide observation of the sun − which has been very active this year − to alert those who need to know about approaching solar flares.
Looking both down at Earth and out at the sun, GOES-U is set to join two other satellites, which are already in orbit as part of the GOES-R series. It will be the last of the GOES satellites, as a new generation of weather satellites is on the horizon.
The first of this series, GOES-R, was launched back in 2016 atop an Atlas V rocket. GOES-U will be the first − and the last − of the GOES satellites to be launched atop a Falcon Heavy.
This satellite will monitor much of the Western Hemisphere, including the Americas, the Caribbean, and Atlantic Ocean.
“National Weather Service colleagues tell us this technology has changed the game for weather prediction and forecasting,” Steve Volz, assistant administrator of NOAA’s Satellite and Information Service, said during a NASA press briefing.
“It is the bridge that connects today’s geostationary satellite technology with the technology of tomorrow, that promises to be more sophisticated and more impactful than what the GOES satellite series currently provides,” he said.
Like Earth technology, satellite technology can only be relevant for so long. GeoXO will be the series of satellites which will follow beginning in the 2030s. Development is currently in process.
SpaceX launch statistics
- The launch of GOES-U brought SpaceX’s ninth launch for the NASA launch services program.
- With the launch vehicle first flying in 2018, this was the 10th Falcon Heavy launch to date.
- As SpaceX is launching Falcon 9 rockets from both coasts, this marked the company’s 65th mission of the year.
Upcoming Falcon Heavy Flights
The next Falcon Heavy launch scheduled is NASA’s Europa Clipper mission, which will be no earlier than October.
As for the next Florida launch, a Falcon 9 rocket will carry a Starlink mission on Thursday from Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 40. SpaceX has not announced a launch time, yet the Geospatial Navigational Warning and FAA Advisory states the launch window opens at 7 a.m. EDT.
Brooke Edwards is a Space Reporter for Florida Today. Contact her at bedwards@floridatoday.com or on X: @brookeofstars.
If I see a message scrawled on a car, it’s usually something dumb like “clean me” or “my other car is a Porsche.” However, one budding artist in Florida has taken their vehicular vandalism up a notch by writing “Fuck Elon” on more than 30 Tesla Cybertrucks in storage.
A parking lot filled with 34 shiny new Cybertrucks was hit last Friday. The collection of Cybertrucks was being stored at a lot in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, when they were, hit reports Futurism.
The trucks were being stored at the parking lot with little security, Futurism reports, before Tesla shipped the Cybertrucks out to their new owners. Because of the open storage location, the messages were spotted by a passing local who reported the incident to police. As Futurism reports:
“Vandalism is not acceptable,” the passerby, Yasser Rabello, told the local TV news outlet, stating the obvious. “It is illegal.”
Later that day, all the Cybertrucks — which are collectively worth around $2.7 million — were wiped clean and started attracting local residents and the curious who had gotten wind of the curse-laden graffiti job on the Tesla vehicles.
“It was just one row and then it was a second row, and then a third row and a fourth row,” Adam Docktor, who works in the neighborhood, told WPLG Local 10 about when he first say the tagged vehicles.
The spray paint might have been wiped off almost as quickly as it appeared, but that hasn’t brought an end to the issue, as police are now scrambling to find out who wrote the messages. No arrests have yet been made, but police told NBC News in South Florida that an investigation into the spray painting is ongoing.
The spray painting was carried out while the trucks were safely parked up in storage, before they could get out onto America’s roads and terrorize people with their sticky pedals, ridiculously sharp bodywork and openings that are hungry for limbs.
Florida
6 arrested in Florida after allegedly stealing nearly $250K from seniors during 'grandparent scams'
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Six alleged fraudsters were arrested in Florida for stealing nearly $250,000 from senior citizens in the state through “grandparent scams,” Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody announced Monday.
The suspects reached out to seniors claiming to be one of their grandchildren’s lawyers and told the victims that the grandchild needed bail money after being arrested for hitting a pregnant woman with a vehicle, Moody said. The suspects then arranged for the victim to send them money.
All six suspects – Jairo Izquierdo, Gennesis Castro, Wendy Angelina Ortiz, Ada Tido, Wandy Castro and Olfa Cornielle – are charged with multiple first-degree felonies, including organized scheme to defraud, grand theft and criminal use of personal identification.
“These fraudsters know that most grandparents would do anything to help a grandchild in need, and through a convincing imposter scheme they used fear and family to extort Florida seniors—stealing nearly a quarter of a million dollars,” Moody said in a news release. “Working with our great law enforcement partners in South Florida, we were able to shut down this far-reaching grandparent scheme and now six fraudsters will have to answer for their crimes.”
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Gennesis Castro (left) and Ada Tido (right) are among the six suspects charged in the “grandparent scams,” Florida AG Ashley Moody announced. (Miami-Dade County Jail)
After telling the victims the fabricated story about the grandchildren, the alleged fraudsters would pressure the seniors to provide bail money.
The suspects instructed the victims to produce the bail amount in cash and place it in a box that would be picked up by couriers – unknowing ride-share drivers requested by the suspects – who then transported the cash to an arranged location, according to investigators.
“I am immensely proud of the Miami-Dade Police Department’s Vice Intelligence Squad, for their exceptional collaboration with the Florida Attorney General, and federal agencies in successfully apprehending individuals involved in extorting the elderly population,” Miami-Dade Police Department Director Stephanie V. Daniels said in the release. “Their dedication, expertise, and unwavering commitment to protecting our community’s most vulnerable population are truly commendable.”
The suspects contacted the seniors claiming to be the lawyer of a grandchild and told them that the grandchild needed bail money after getting arrested for hitting a pregnant woman with a car. (Matthias Balk/picture alliance via Getty Images / Getty Images)
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In some instances, the suspects contacted the same victim multiple times to demand more cash.
In one case, one of the seniors paid $9,000 before later being told that the pregnant woman miscarried her baby and an additional $18,000 was needed due to upgraded charges.
The suspects then told the same victim that the baby’s father attacked the victim’s grandson for causing the miscarriage and that the grandchild elbowed a police officer during the attack, prompting a need for another $20,000 for bail, as well as $7,500 in court fees. The alleged fraudsters received more than $54,000.
A similar situation happened to another senior, who paid the scammers $53,000.
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said investigators “were able to shut down this far-reaching grandparent scheme and now six fraudsters will have to answer for their crimes.” (Getty Images)
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In another instance, a victim paid $8,000 and the suspects reached out again the following day asking for another $4,000 for the grandson’s bail after claiming the pregnant woman lost her baby. The next day, the suspects claimed the grandson owed medical bills because of the incident and requested another $1,700.
Another victim paid $30,000 for bail and later sent an additional $7,000 after the fraudsters claimed the pregnant woman died, causing the bond to increase.
The suspects targeted seniors in multiple counties, including Brevard, Broward, Lee, Miami-Dade, Orange, Palm Beach and Sarasota.
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