Cremation's legacy can be dignity and peace

TROXLER E-mail: Click here Archive

© St. Petersburg Times
published February 20, 2002

The Bay Area Crematory is located in a plain white building, at the end of a dead-end street, off the south side of Ulmerton Road in Pinellas County. The only clues of its use are a tiny sign by the door and a pair of smokestacks on the roof.

Past the clean, white front office is an inner room dominated by the two giant, gas-fired, stand-alone, stainless-steel machines. A sign hangs on the wall here. It says:

Remember. This room becomes sacred when a family entrusts us with their most precious loved ones. Keep faith with them by conducting yourself as though the family were present. Their loved ones are dear to them -- please treat them reverently.

This crematory is not open directly to the public. It is owned by the same corporation that owns the Blount Curry & Roel funeral home chain. It serves 15 of the chain's homes in Pinellas and Hillsborough and provides service to a handful of others.

Two thousand or so cremations a year, 200-plus a month, 40 or 50 a week.

Michael Baty and Bill Wood, the crematory's manager, are showing me around. Baty is the company's director of funeral operations for Pinellas.

In the wake of the scandal in Georgia, where the remains of 149 people have been found around a crematory there, Baty and Wood are eager to demonstrate the safeguards in place here.

"Anything to do with the death-care industry gets a lot of press . . . there's a sensationalism to it that always piques interest," Baty says. Hard to argue with that.

As the three of us speak, the right-hand machine is in use, its jets roaring steadily in the background. Readouts on the front show the temperature to be around 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit. A black dial numbered 1 through 6, for hours, controls the duration.

How long does it take, I ask? Typically about two hours, but up to four if the family chooses a more upscale container than the standard cardboard box, which is 6 feet, 6 inches long, with a plastic liner. There are three such boxes waiting on a steel table in the corner. Are they ...? Yes. These are the embalmed. (The unembalmed are in boxes in the walk-in cooler, which holds about 20.)

The medical examiner must issue a permit for each cremation, and every family member with legal authority must sign a consent. These papers are carefully logged and copied. Each box is marked with the vital information: name, funeral home, date and time of death. A copy of the paperwork is attached to the box. A half-dollar-size metal disc, stamped with a unique number, is taped to the deceased's shoulder. This disc survives the fire.

Each box carries three other hand-written codes for things that must be checked: EMB, PACE, JEWELRY. Is the person embalmed? Did the hand-held metal detector reveal a pacemaker, which must be removed so the battery doesn't explode?

The boxes are loaded by a single operator over a roller at the entrance of the brick chamber. There is a single, large hole at the top of this chamber for the flame, and tiny holes for airflow around the floor. The operator takes the receipt off the box and physically attaches it to the outside of the machine.

When the machine is opened, the ashes and identifying disc are pulled out with a long-handled wire brush into a rectangular metal pan. Any shards are put through a pulverizer.

These remains -- 2, 3 pounds -- are placed in a plastic bag and inside a tiny cardboard box, 6 inches by 8 inches, with a piece of paper signed by the operator that says: "I certify that the contents herein are the true and actual cremated remains of ..."

I ask: How are people to know they are doing business with a reputable organization? He said customers shouldn't be afraid to ask about the company's ID procedures, the existence of any litigation, its overall track record.

"This is how we do it every time," he said. "It's policy. It's procedure. We enforce it, and due to that, we don't have problems.

"Add a little bit of dignity and honor and you've got something to do good business with."

-- You can reach Howard Troxler at (727) 893-8505 or at troxler@sptimes.com.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright