Burying Pa in the Back Pasture
By Elisa Ingoldby C.S.A.
More than one time has someone told me they don’t need a funeral plan because they are just going to “bury Pa in the back pasture.” It’s been hundreds of years for a formal registration of the government to enact laws that proper census be taken and only in 1933 was it all “official” and not so easy to just put Pa in the back yard.
Just to set the tone of this article straight, you can still bury someone in your back pasture, on your ranch, land, etc. but there are certain protocols people need to follow and it is my intention here just to educate.
True story and names of course have been changed but Jane passed away on Friday and her request was to do a “green burial” and placed in a grave on her ranch, wrapped in a blanket or a homemade casket. She didn’t want to be embalmed nor placed in a cement or plastic liner required by some cemeteries. Jane even skipped the steel casket; all no-no’s for those wanting a green funeral. She just wanted to become one with the earth and become dust again. It wasn’t that easy, and the family decided to hire a funeral home for several reasons.
First, a doctor or coroner need to sign the death certificate which allows the family to obtain a permit to bury. This is required by law. When Jane died on Friday and didn’t want to use a funeral home, the family would have to keep her “on ice” until Monday when the doctor office or coroner are available, as well as the health department to be open to obtain a paper copy death certificate, allowing the state to process and grant a permit. At this point the family would have to fill out all the vital information and then deliver that paper copy to the doctor or coroner. A hiccup in this plan is if there is any suspicion in the death, the coroner can request an autopsy, then the plan completely changes.
Secondly, the coroner office requires a small recording GPS filing fee for the proper paperwork to know the location of the grave and that a “cemetery” is now being recorded on that property. It will change the property value perhaps if that land were ever to be sold because disclosure of a grave/cemetery is required by law.
If all this goes smoothly, Jane could have been buried maybe by late Monday or early Tuesday. If a death occurs in the middle of the week, it’s a different story, but still the same would be needed and that’s a lot of ice when it would be simpler to just call a funeral home for help so the family can grieve. In the long run of my story, the family had time over the weekend to build a wood casket and Jane got buried on Monday afternoon. Not so easy to just “dig a hole” any more.