In Repose Blog

Ferrari and the Cremation Urn

So the story goes something like this:

A young boy, obsessed with race cars, and Ferarris in particular, dies of cancer in 2004.

His parents knew that one of their son's final wishes was to have his ashes placed in an urn in the shape of a Ferrari. They contacted a Danish Funeral home, the Begravelses Service, and inquired if they could create such an urn.

According to Carzten Mark, owner of the funeral home, when contacted about the idea, Ferrari Import Denmark gave written permission to design the urn. They were very helpful, recalls Mark, and "Even sent us the logo and stickers to use."

The single urn was designed only for the boy, and there were no plans to create additional Ferrari inspired vessels.

Then, sometime later, a Danish television station filmed a report on the funeral home's custom-made urns. It did mention that one urn was created in the shape of a Ferrari, but it did not show the urn on film.

The Italian car-maker is now suing the funeral home for copyright breach for the sum of 250,000 kroner (About 46,000 USD), claiming the television spot mentioning the name was marketing, and therefore misusing the Ferarri name.

Who has seen the urn?  Only the family, the funeral home and Ferrari Import Denmark.

The trial is set for October.

By the way, in case you did not know, the entry level cost of a consumer Ferrari F430 is about 200,000 USD.

Important Tips for Newly Widowed Woman

An article by Deanna Lynn Sletten

The loss of a spouse is devastating and the last thing on your mind at this time is your financial future.  But it is important for women to make a few crucial decisions early on to protect their finances and future security.  If going through your legal and financial papers seems like a daunting task, you may want to ask a trusted family member or friend to help you sort through them.

Your first task is to get organized and locate all the paperwork necessary to file claims or straighten out accounts.  Records that you will need include:

Death Certificate – You should have about two-dozen copies of your husband’s death certificate on hand as you will have to use them to collect on insurance policies, retirement benefits, and other death benefits you may be eligible for.

Will – If you and your husband have a will you will need it to settle the estate.  If not, you will have to follow your state’s laws concerning estates.

Tax returns – You should find your joint tax returns from the past five years.  You many need these to apply for any benefits you have coming to you.

Benefit accounts – Find records of any employee benefit accounts, retirement accounts, stock option plans, insurance policies including homeowners, auto, disability or any umbrella policies you may have. 

Investments – Put together any recent statements you may have from stock, IRA, and 401K investment accounts.  Make sure you also have recent copies of your checking, savings and any CD or mutual fund accounts too.

Official papers or certificates – Have on hand any birth and marriage certificates along with social security cards, military discharge papers and pre-nuptial agreements. 

Having all of these papers in order will make it easier for you to change names on important financial accounts and apply for any benefits coming to you.

Life Insurance:  Whether you husband had life insurance through his employer or you had taken out a policy together you will have to apply for this money to receive it.  Also, check your homeowners insurance to see if death benefits are included.  Some policies include a clause where the mortgage is paid-in-full or partially paid in the event of a spouse’s death. 

Benefits:  Aside from receiving any life insurance monies you may be eligible for other death benefits.  Some important benefits are through Social Security.  You may be eligible to collect retirement benefits if you are age 60 and over or age 50 and disabled.  Certain death benefits are available to widows and widows with children under age 16.  There are also benefits for children whose father is deceased, such as assistance paying for college.  You can also receive a special $255 death payment that will help to pay for funeral fees.  But you cannot receive these benefits unless you actually file for them.  Contact your local Social Security office as soon as possible for information on filing for these important benefits.

You may also be eligible for veterans’ benefits if your husband served in one of the branches of service.  Survivor benefits may include free burial in a national cemetery or you might be eligible to receive money for expenses related to your husband’s funeral, headstone, or cremation services.  If your spouse was receiving disability benefits at the time of death you may be able to continue receiving these benefits.  You will need to contact the Department of Veterans Affairs to find out what benefits you are eligible for.

If your husband belonged to any organizations such as a labor union, credit union, college alumni group, the American Legion or any other similar organization you may be eligible for insurance benefits or some types of assistance programs.  Contact the organization to find out the benefits they may have to offer.

Employee benefits, such as accumulated sick leave, vacation, or PTO that your husband incurred may be available as a payout to you.  Contact the Human Resource Manager at your spouse’s company to check on what benefits you have coming.

Most of these benefits you can apply for on your own by having the appropriate papers, however if you have trouble collecting them you may want to consult a lawyer.

By diligently reviewing your financial papers and following up on all benefits that are due to you, you will be on your way to securing a solid financial future that may help to alleviate some of the stress you are experiencing through your loss.

In Repose  reminds all adults to record this critical information easily, quickly and privately to ease the burden on your family and loved ones by creating a My Last Wishes  account. (Our basic account is FREE)

Gallows Humor Contest...No Winners.

Patrick Knight had planned on telling a joke as his last words before being executed for murder. The Texas prisoner had collected more than 1300 jokes from mail and the Internet, gaining notoriety and adding to the chagrin of prison authorities and the families of the victims of his double murder in 1991.

When the moment came Knight thanked God for his friends and asked for help for innocent men on death row. Readily admitting his own guilt in the death of Walter and Mary Ann Werner he said, "I said I was going to tell a joke. Death has set me free. That's the biggest joke. I deserve this."

Randall County Sheriff Joel Richardson, who watched Knight die, had this to say: "Despite all the hype about his joke, it turns out he's not much of a comedian."

The International Scattering Society

With more and more Americans, indeed, more and more of the world's population choosing cremation over other forms of disposition, more businesses and services are being formed to support the trend.

There is the story of Dwight Smith and his mother who had travelled to Ireland and fell in love with the lakes near Killarney. When Smith's mother passed away last August, her last wish was to have her remains scattered in Ireland. Smith wanted to do as his mother had requested but did not have the time nor the resources to make the trip himself so soon after her death. "What she doesn't want is to be is in Long Island Sound," he said.

Checking around he discovered the International Scattering Society  of Lee's Summit, Missouri, who offered to handle for a fee, all of the details required to fulfill Smith's mother's final wish.

In Repose recently spoke with Kelly Murtaugh, President of the International Scattering Society, to learn more.

Please describe your business in just a sentence or two.

Through our society members, we travel to many locations around the world and scatter cremated remains (ashes) for our customers.  We also provide a permit service which investigates the legal options available to our customers who wish to perform the scattering personally.

How did you get into this business?

This business developed from a thought I had about where my son might one day scatter my remains.  After some long hard thoughts about the places that meant the most to me, I decided.  I talked to other people about what I had in mind and found that through the course of discussion they began talking about where they might like to be scattered.  After some seriously long consideration and some discussions with a very dear friend and mentor in the funeral/cremation industry, a plan hatched and here we are.

What is the best thing about your business?

The best thing about this business is being able to provide a service to people that is truly appreciated and provides them with peace of mind and closure.  We talk with people who have a heartfelt desire to honor their loved one and we get to help them achieve it.

What is the worst thing?

The worst thing about this business is we have had a few times that we were unable to accommodate a specific location for a family.  We are working very hard to develop relationships and to recruit new society members so that this doesn't happen in the future.

What is the hardest thing?

The hardest thing about this business is cured with education.  Many people have the wrong information about cremated remains and what is legal or not.  There are many ideas about cremated remains being bad for environment or if a person died from disease that the "germs" are still viable and able to contaminate other people.

What is a typical day like "at the office"?

There is no typical day at the office.  There are days that roll over into night on lots of occasions.  There are days that start at 5:00 am in order to contact Europe at a decent hour.   We are on the computer 70% of the time answering e-mails and researching locations.  We call 6 different government or public offices to investigate permits for each permit. We process Society Member applications and send out direct mail fliers.  We evaluate possible future locations and begin the process of building professional contacts.  Some days we travel by plane, some days we travel by boat and some days we walk

What is the most important thing you would like potential clients to know?

The most important thing I would like potential clients to know is that integrity is our highest value.  I want our potential clients to know that when we take possession of their loved one that they will be treated with respect and honor and that the service that was requested will be the service delivered.

Gallows Humor Contest

Patrick Knight wants to be  remembered as "Dead Man Laughing".

Knight, convicted of the execution style murders of an elderly couple named Walter and Mary Ann Werner, is set to die by lethal injection in Texas this June 26. For his final statement before his death, he wants to tell a joke. He is collecting submissions from the public and notes that "Lawyer jokes are real popular."

Knight admits there is nothing funny about the execution itself. He also freely admits his guilt in the Werner's murders.

"I'm not trying to disrespect the Werners or anything like that," he told The Associated Press from death row. "I'm not trying to say I don't care what's going on. I'm about to die. I'm not going to sit here and whine and cry and moan and everything like that when I'm facing the punishment I've been given. I'm not asking for money. I'm not asking for pen pals or anything like that. All I'm asking for is jokes," Knight said.

More than 250 submissions have been received so far. Jokes can be sent to Patrick B. Knight, #999072, Polunsky Unit, 3872 FM 350 South, Livingston, Texas 77351.

Read the AP article HERE.

"Beam me up!" said Scotty.

First in the In Repose series: Last Wishes

200 people, including James Doohan, the actor who portrayed "Scotty" in the original Star Trek Series, and passed away in 2005, had their last wish granted last week by having portions of their remains launched into space.

There are some nice musical tributes on Youtube, montages of all of his tv shows and movies, and even recordings of the private rocket launch April 28 in Hatch, New Mexico. But none of them showed very much about Doohan the man, until I found this little interview clip where he tells a bit of a story about a certain fan... <