One reason for selecting cremation over a traditional burial is the cost savings associated with the practice. Without the purchase of a casket, headstone, and burial plot, not to mention the fees for embalming and a graveside memorial at burial, it’s easy to see why cremation is quickly surpassing traditional burial as a means of final disposition in the United States and around the world.

A simple cremation, which limits expenses to the cremation service and the purchase of a preferred urn, offers a significant cost savings. Choosing to use your own urn, rather than purchasing a new one, saves even more. There was an interesting story out of the Minneapolis/St. Paul area last week, when a family choose to use their own urn and found it to be a meaningful experience.

Myron Peterson, known around St. Paul as the Popcorn Patriarch, passed away earlier this month. At age 92, Peterson had lived a full life that touched the lives of his large family and the many lifetime customers he endeared himself to over the years at the three popcorn shops he operated. 

After Peterson’s cremation, his daughters wanted to find an urn that honored their father, and they apparently looked at several before it dawned on them which receptacle would most please their dearly departed father: a two-gallon popcorn tin. But, this wasn’t just any popcorn tin.

“We were trying to decide which urn to use, when we remembered the tin we had with the picture of dad and mom, from their honeymoon,” said daughter Trudy Dye to Joe Kimball at the Minnesota Post.

“We thought: Oh, Myron would just love that.'”

This is just one more example of the flexibility cremation affords families who wish to honor the life of their loved one in the most special and unique ways possible.

If you have questions regarding cremation or wish to begin preplanning your own cremation, contact a professional Family Arranger at Smart Cremation today: (503) 402-2578.

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