March 2017

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Page A26 MARCH 2017 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS S ec t i on A
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2017: Optimism at the Dawn
of the Cremation Age By Darrell Hill
Darrell Hill
2017 is officially the Dawn of the Crema-
tion Age. As a nation, we began 2016 with
a cremation rate of 48.6 percent. Actuarial
estimates peg late-summer (July or August)
of 2016 as the likely point when cremation
rates tipped 50 percent - and continued
shooting ever skyward. 2017 is the first year
in United States history when the cremation
rate will meet or exceed 50
percent for the entire year.
As dawn breaks on the
Cremation Age, though
challenges lie ahead, there is
indeed much to be optimis-
tic, very optimistic about.
That optimism is rooted in
the old and in the new.
The Old: Baby Boomers #s
The first Baby Boomers
will turn 71 in 2017 and,
just as they did in 1946
when they literally popped
onto the United States de-
mographic scene, they will
transform the death care profession as they
have transformed so many other Ameri-
can industries. By most accounts, the Baby
Boom generation will increase the average
number of annual deaths by 20 percent -
from 2.5 million deaths annually to 3.0 mil-
lion deaths annually. The Dawn of the Cre-
mation Age corresponds to the Sunset of the
Baby Boom generation.
The Old: Baby Boomers $s
It is well-documented that the Baby
Boom generation is the wealthiest in Unit-
ed States history. Upon their passing, the
Baby Boom generation will
bequeath $30 trillion in
wealth to their heirs.
While much of the press
has focused on the impli-
cations of this wealth trans-
fer for financial advisors,
there are huge implications
for the Death Care Profes-
sion. The Dawn of the Cre-
mation Age corresponds
to a dramatic increase in a
family’s ability to honor the
life of their dearly departed
in uniquely personal and
meaningful ways.
The New: Innovation!
Consumers have never been in a better po-
sition to choose: how to honor the life of a
departed loved one and where their remains
will spend eternity. The profession is mak-
ing investments to trans-
form the end-of-life expe-
rience and to offer greater
consumer-choice and myr-
iad personalization options.
For consumers choosing tra-
ditional funeral, casket, and
burial options, the profes-
sion offers more variety than
ever: from true celebrations
and parties in remembrance
of a life well-lived; to green
casket and burial options; to
innovations such as the In-
finity Burial Suit (aka the
Mushroom Suit).
For those choosing crema-
tion, the options are seem-
ingly endless: traditional
flame cremation or liquid
cremation; cremated re-
mains placed in custom-
built urns; keepsake jewel-
ry; or blown glass art pieces;
inter cremated remains at a
cemetery, at sea in the form
of a reef, shot into space to
become one with the uni-
verse, or interred in support
of plants or tree life.
How can you be anything
but optimistic as our pro-
fession is poised to serve
more families, who have
more ability to demand
unique and meaningful
end-of-life celebrations,
with more innovative and
imaginative end-of-life ser-
vice and product solutions
at our fingertips?
What an honor it is to be
of service to families at the
Dawn of the Cremation Age.
Darrell W. Hill is the
founder and CEO of Eter-
nity Gardens. Eternity
Gardens is building the
largest, most comprehen-
sive on-line listing of cre-
mation, memorial, and
scattering gardens for cre-
mated human remains.
Email Darrell at darrell@
.
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