Editors note: Contributor Lacey Reinhardt is a Certified Death Midwife, a Limited Licensed Funeral Director, and a life-long resident of St. Louis, MO. Lacey is currently employed by St. Louis Cremation. She volunteers in a development role at Hughes Funeral Alternatives (including her work on the restoration of Hillcrest Abbey Cemetery), as well as at Bellefontaine Cemetery and Arboretum, where she created the well-attended Death Positive Festival.

Hillcrest Abbey Cemetery:

Hillcrest construction is slow but steady. We ran into a few bumps with the electrical  work but are back on track, AND with a grant from the electric company!  We've been open at the newer chapel for funeral services since late Spring and our first interment of ashes took place in May.

We expect to have the old chapel open and ready by the end of August, and will start rehab work on the Columbarium next!

The first ever wedding took place at Hillcrest on June 3rd! A small tree was planted on the property to commemorate the date and the bride and groom will place an anniversary plaque there in one year to commemorate the event.

Death Midwife/Funeral Directing

In April, St. Louis Cremation agreed to let me provide Death Midwife services for interested families. About a week ago, we received our first call from a Hindu family who wanted to keep their loved one at home for a couple of days prior to cremation. They were specifically looking for a funeral home that would accommodate this. I drove to their home and showed them how to keep their grandfather cool, and left them with a few supplies and my phone number for questions.

About 36 hours later, everyone had paid their respects at the home and the family was ready for us to come and pick up their loved one. I made funeral arrangements with them over the phone. With some active listening, and a few phone calls the next day, we were able to facilitate a full Hindu service at our funeral home.

The family was beyond appreciative to receive what they needed, and my colleagues and I were able to experience how a different culture said goodbye to their loved one.

In May, St. Louis Cremation hired a licensed embalmer and funeral director who's also a recently certified Death Midwife!  He and I have already teamed up to make it easier for families to help with the preparation of their own loved ones at our facility and, despite the occasional strange looks we get when offering "hands-on" services to our families, the majority of comments and feedback we get are VERY positive.

Death Festival

The Death Positive Festival is growing this year! On October 21st, we'll have Death Positive speakers and Vendors at Bellefontaine Cemetery. In addition, we're adding a movie screening and an offsite dinner event!  I'm including the link so our group can follow the updates!

https://lastcallendoflifefestival.com/

https://www.facebook.com › LastCallEndOfLifeFestival