SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) – A Missouri funeral director is sending his father out with a bang. His father’s ashes, anyway.
Greenlawn Funeral Homes will hold its first Firework Memorial program on Saturday night, when fireworks packed with James Carver’s cremated remains will be launched skyward as part of his family’s goodbye.
Carver’s family is the first to try Greenlawn’s new program. His son is funeral director Jim Carver, who says his father, who died in 2008, loved watching fireworks and would appreciate the unusual send off. The family will follow the eight-minute fireworks display with a cookout and memorial celebration.
Some have said, “this is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,” Carver said, while others think it sounds weird. One other family has purchased a fireworks memorial for the one-year anniversary of a loved one’s death.
Greenlawn’s Fireworks Memorials range from a $300 “Sensational Celebration” to the “Ultimate Goodbye,” which costs $8,000 to $10,000, The Springfield News-Leader reported.