Number of companies that scatter ashes grows

updated 8:19 p.m. ET May 16, 2007

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Dwight Smith and his mother made several trips to Ireland over the years, reveling in the beauty of the Killarney lakes in the southwest corner of the country.

When Smith's mother died in August, there was no question she would be cremated — a request she had made often — or that her remains would be scattered near the lakes.

But Smith, of New London, Conn., said he didn't have the time or resources to make the trip now and wanted to fulfill his mother's wishes soon.

"What she doesn't want to be is in Long Island Sound," he said.

Checking with a mortician friend, he hooked up with the International Scattering Society in the Kansas City suburb of Lee's Summit, a sort of travel agency for the cremated dead that offered to handle for a fee all the paperwork and logistics required in taking his mother's remains overseas. Sometime this month, one of the society's members will scatter the ashes in Killarney, providing Smith with video or photos of the event.

"I feel that it will be done in a better way than I could have done," he said. "My mother would be happy that someone who likes doing this is doing this."

The dead are not content to just sit on the mantel anymore.

As the number of cremations grow — 32 percent of U.S. deaths led to cremation in 2005, compared with 21 percent in 1996, according to the National Funeral Directors Association — the demand has risen among friends and family seeking out companies and organizations that can help them deal with the remains, either fulfilling their loved one's wishes or finding a final resting place more exotic than a family urn.

Bill Metzger, for example, said he's seen a 50 percent increase in customers over the past year for his business, Final Flights, which uses his Piper Cherokee to scatter ashes above southern California sites, such as La Jolla, Big Bear or the Catalina Islands. He said he does six to 10 scatterings a month at a cost of $300 to $500, depending on distance and fuel prices.

"When I get a call and I explain what we do, people are stunned; they didn't know something like this existed," Metzger said. "It just seemed an uplifting — no pun intended — happy way of doing things, as opposed to a somber scattering at sea or placing in a columbarium (crypt)."

Mark Smith, president of the Chicago-based Cremation Association of North America, said the majority of cremated remains still go home with loved ones for burial or safekeeping. But his association did a study last year that found that 21.7 percent of remains are destined to be scattered, up from 17.8 percent in 1997.

Smith said much of that growth is coming as funeral home directors increasingly offer scattering services in their funeral packages or at least broach the subject of alternative disposition of the ashes, something traditional-minded families may have never considered.

He added that some relatives choose scattering because they worry about possibly losing the remains or subsequent generations letting the ashes lay forgotten in a closet or attic.

"They realize they don't want to become custodians and caretakers for these remains for a long period of time," he said.

Arvin Starrett, a spokesman for the National Funeral Directors Association, recommended customers do their homework on a proposed scattering company or rely on a funeral home's suggestions for reputable companies.

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