Open house answers questions, dispels fears about cremation

LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY - Kitty Mattingly didn&#39;t flinch as she peered into the cramped, dark chamber the one in which 1,800-degree heat reduces a human body to nothing more than ash and bone. <br> <br> ``I&#39;ve wanted to be cremated for as long as I can remember,&#39;&#39; said Mattingly, 72. ``I had to come take a peek at where I&#39;m gonna go when I&#39;m gone.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Gruesome reports of bodies dumped at a north Georgia crematory prompted more than three dozen people to pack into a crematory open house at the 153-year-old Lexington Cemetery on a recent rainy Saturday. It was held to dispel potential customers&#39; fears that the same fate could await them. <br> <br> ``You hear and read about something horrible like that and it really makes you wonder,&#39;&#39; said Jacque King, a 45-year-old social worker whose boyfriend videotaped the tour. ``So this is something I had to come and see for myself.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Ray Brent Marsh, 28, has been jailed since Feb. 17 on charges of theft by deception stemming from the discovery of 339 discarded bodies on the property of Tri-State Crematory in Noble, Ga. <br> <br> Prosecutors claim Marsh, the crematory&#39;s operator, took money for cremations he never performed, instead stashing the bodies on the property. <br> <br> Even those in the industry, normally unmoved by the details of death and cremation, were shaken by the revelations. <br> <br> ``I thought it had to be some kind of mistake,&#39;&#39; said Dan Scalf, president and general manager of the Lexington Cemetery. ``You have to have ethics and a sense of what is right no matter what kind of business you do. In this business, where people are emotional and grief-stricken over the loss of a loved one, it&#39;s even more critical.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Scalf said the cemetery had been toying with the idea of holding an open house at the crematory long before the Georgia incident generated headlines. <br> <br> ``We know a lot of people have questions about cremation and it seemed like a good way to answer a lot of those questions in a personal way,&#39;&#39; he said. <br> <br> ``After the thing in Georgia broke, we thought it also would be a way to dispel any apprehension people might have had about our operation and how we do things here. We want to assure people we have nothing to hide.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Jack Springer, executive director of the Chicago-based Cremation Association of North America, said many of the organization&#39;s 1,200-plus members hold similar informative sessions. <br> <br> ``If the numbers continue as they have for the past decade, by 2025 close to 50 percent of all deaths nationally will result in cremation,&#39;&#39; Springer said. ``These kinds of events are held as a public service to let people know cremation is a viable and cost-effective alternative to burial following the loss of a loved one.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> According to CANA, 367,975 or 17 percent of the nation&#39;s 2,148,463 deaths in 1990 resulted in cremation. In Canada, cremation was performed after 62,797 or nearly 33 percent of that country&#39;s 193,000 deaths. <br> <br> In 2000, the most recent year for which figures are available, the number of cremations had jumped to 603,092 or 25 percent in the United States and 90,200 42 percent in Canada. <br> <br> ``People find they have a lot more options when they cremate,&#39;&#39; Scalf said. ``In many cases, they find it is equally or even more cost-efficient than burial.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Despite a strong religious background, Mattingly said she&#39;s never had any hesitation about being cremated. <br> <br> ``Once I&#39;m dead, I&#39;m dead,&#39;&#39; she said with a chuckle. ``Even if I did believe in reincarnation or resurrection, I certainly wouldn&#39;t want to come back in this broken-down old body.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Lacy Robinson, a 22-year-old student from northern Kentucky, came to the open house with a friend to see the process firsthand. She plans to attend mortuary school in the fall. <br> <br> Robinson said she was fascinated by the tour and found that cremation was a lot different than she expected. <br> <br> ``I had no clue that the skeleton is pulverized after being taken out of the chamber and that magnets are used to extract pieces of metal from the remains,&#39;&#39; Robinson said. <br> <br> ``I went in with this mental image of some dark, dirty hole where they go down and take these bodies, but it&#39;s not like that at all. It was a lot more organized, clean and neat than I ever imagined.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Evelyn McCauley of Cynthiana said that she and her husband attended the open house to ease their minds about their decision to be cremated <br> <br> ``There&#39;s not a lot of places you can go and get all the facts in such an open and easy manner,&#39;&#39; McCauley said. ``We learned a lot today and I think it helps make us feel like we&#39;re making the right decision.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Scalf said the success of the open house may prompt the cemetery to hold similar sessions in the future. <br> <br> ``We had an hour of very good questions before the tour even started, and that kind of surprised me a little bit,&#39;&#39; he said. ``If people came away with a better idea of what is involved in cremation and what to expect at our facility, then I think we provided a welcome service and hopefully eased any fears.&#39;&#39;