A look inside a crematorium

Story by Sally Rummel; video by Tim Jagielo “Ashes to ashes and dust to dust” may be a frequent saying at funerals, but if your loved one is cremated, what you’re getting back in an urn is actually processed bone fragments, not ashes. That’s just one of the many misconceptions people have about cremation — a method of disposing the body after death through a process of thermal heat that reduces the body to bone fragments. Today, cremations take place in licensed, regulated crematoriums, although there is an outdoor crematorium in Crestone, Colorado, the only one of its kind in the U.S. While cremation has been around since prehistoric times, it has become a much more widely accepted practice. Close to 50 percent of all deaths end in cremation rather than a traditional burial service, according to recent statistics from the Cremation Association of North America. That’s a huge difference from the 10 percent cremation rate back in 1980. These end-of-life trends have changed many burial traditions in Genesee County, too. Sharp Funeral Homes, the largest funeral home in the county, has seen its cremation rates grow to 45 percent, and it expects this pattern to continue. Other local funeral homes are also seeing this huge growth in cremation. “We see the trend toward cremation growing, for sure,” said Ken Temrowski, of Temrowski Family Funeral Home & Cremation Services in Fenton. “But whether you choose to bury, entomb, cremate or donate, we still try to encourage families to gather somewhere. It’s beneficial for everyone.” At Dryer Funeral Homes in Holly, half of all their families choose cremation for their loved one. “It’s up to 50 percent now,” said Gordon Dryer, funeral director. Sharp Funeral Homes was the first funeral home to use the services of Genesee Valley Vault Company on North Holly Road in Grand Blanc when they opened their crematorium in 2006. Dustin Rice, 37, son of company owner Ted Rice, handles day-to-day operations at the crematorium, which includes two cremation chambers. What happens during cremation? On a typical day, he and crematory technician Steve Prescott will oversee four or five cremations, each taking about 2½ hours in 1,675-degree heat. Then they place the remaining bone fragments on a cooling tray. Next, metals are separated out, with larger fragments swept into a bone-pulverizing machine. The final results are the “cremains” that are poured into a carefully labeled box. The funeral home then picks up these temporary urns to present to the decedent’s family — offering many options for the cremains, from burial to permanent urns, and other options. Some families choose to witness the cremation process at the crematorium, offering a prayer before the process takes place. Dustin says this happens at their crematorium only about once every other month. He says one of the biggest concerns families have is that the cremains are actually the remains of their loved one. “I can say with 100 percent certainty that they are,” said Dustin. We are very careful about how we handle this process. “There’s no chance for any kind of mix-up.”