Opinions requested

[Alpo]

First - this is a novel. Fiction. Fiction. Fiction. Everybody got that?

 

Okay. The boy is 6 years old. His parents are murdered and buried in California, which is where he lives. He is shipped to Texas where he grows up. When he is 17 he joins the Marine corps. His four-year hitch is up and he just got out, which should make him 21 and means that Mama and Daddy have been buried for 15 years.

 

Since he barely remembers California, and Texas is what he considers home, he has Mama and Daddy dug up and shipped to Texas and re buried in the local cemetery.

 

With new coffins "at the suggestion of the funeral director".

 

Now I know why the funeral director suggested it - let's get some more money out of this guy, along with the cost of the plots and the internment.

 

But these are fairly good coffins - not your rickety pine box - and they've only been buried for 15 years. Now, here in Florida my understanding is they have to be inside a concrete vault. Not just dig a hole in the ground, but dig a hole in the ground, put the concrete vault in the hole, put the coffin in the vault, then put the lid on the vault and put the dirt on top.

 

If California has similar regulations, I don't see why he would need new coffins.

 

So that is the opinion I am requesting. Do you think new coffins would be a good idea? Or just a way for the funeral home to make another couple of grand?

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

Just more money for the guy in the black suit.

[Eyesa Horg]

I would say it depends if the condition of the old coffins. Here they don't need a vault unless in a flood plain. 

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

Just now, Eyesa Horg said:

I would say it depends if the condition of the old coffins. Here they don't need a vault unless in a flood plain. 

Some cemeteries require a vault.

[Eyesa Horg]

Out of eight in our town, only one requires a vault.

 

The cemetery down the road where we purchased our plot doesn't. I still joke with Ellie, whom is the Cemetery Commissioner here, that our plot looks used! It's sunken a noticeable amount! With all the work she has done purifying records there is no indication of a previous burial. Since we will cremated, we likely won't be deep enough to matter. But still a little weird to me. If she ever needs to bring in lidar, we'll check! 

[John Kloehr]

20 minutes ago, Eyesa Horg said:

... our plot looks used! It's sunken a noticeable amount! With all the work she has done purifying records there is no indication of a previous burial.

Jimmy Hoffa?

[Pat Riot]

If you do a search using these words “What does a body look like after being in a coffin for 15 years?” You will find numerous sites with some really disgusting information. 

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

Could be a state regulation.

 

When my FIL died in NY in 1979, we had to purchase a coffin, even though he was cremated. State law. T’weren’t no cheap pine box either. Probably a result of the funeral lobby in NY. 

[Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062]

........ and your horse is ugly too ........