Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Building your own coffin and putting other remains in with you

There are rules governing both

One local man was refused the right to be buried with his Harley-Davidson. - Image by Rick Geary
One local man was refused the right to be buried with his Harley-Davidson.

Dear Matthew Alice: Due to recent painful and expensive losses of family members. I'm wondering if it would be legal to construct my own coffin in anticipation of my passing. Also, may I place the bones of dearly departed pets in the box with me? Finally, can more than one person (dead) occupy the same coffin so that my loved one (human) and I may share our eternal rest? — Thanata, San Diego

Your eternal rest will be preceded by endless cajoling, negotiation, and paperwork, I’m afraid. But if you’re determined enough, perhaps you can realize your dream. The law won’t stop you, as long as your coffin meets certain construction standards. At one time there were companies that sold kits for home handypersons to build their own. But none of those enterprises seems to be in business anymore. So much for the popularity of plan-ahead interment, at least at the home hobby level.

Sponsored
Sponsored

If you have the proper permits, theoretically you and your pals could cozy up in your handmade casket when the time comes. There are instances in the county of more than one person buried in a single coffin. For example, a mother and child were buried together in one local cemetery. There’s also a woman buried with her pet dog that had died years before and been stuffed and kept around the house for sentimental reasons and, perhaps, as a sure-fire conversation starter. Cremated remains of the previously departed are also sometimes buried in a loved one’s casket.

Environmental laws restrict what can be placed in a gravesite outside the coffin. One local man was refused the right to be buried with his Harley-Davidson, though that was a decision made by the cemetery management. State law would not have prohibited it as long as environmental hazards were avoided.

All such requests are very rare, according to most of the mortuary and cemetery managers I talked to. Each tactfully said they try to accommodate a family’s wishes. But one can safely assume they’ll just as tactfully try to talk you out of anything that pares their profit margin to the bone, as it were. Aside from being a bummer, of course, death is also a business.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Poway’s schools, faced with money squeeze, fined for voter mailing

$105 million bond required payback of nearly 10 times that amount
Next Article

Gonzo Report: Eating dinner while little kids mock-mosh at Golden Island

“The tot absorbs the punk rock shot with the skill of experience”
One local man was refused the right to be buried with his Harley-Davidson. - Image by Rick Geary
One local man was refused the right to be buried with his Harley-Davidson.

Dear Matthew Alice: Due to recent painful and expensive losses of family members. I'm wondering if it would be legal to construct my own coffin in anticipation of my passing. Also, may I place the bones of dearly departed pets in the box with me? Finally, can more than one person (dead) occupy the same coffin so that my loved one (human) and I may share our eternal rest? — Thanata, San Diego

Your eternal rest will be preceded by endless cajoling, negotiation, and paperwork, I’m afraid. But if you’re determined enough, perhaps you can realize your dream. The law won’t stop you, as long as your coffin meets certain construction standards. At one time there were companies that sold kits for home handypersons to build their own. But none of those enterprises seems to be in business anymore. So much for the popularity of plan-ahead interment, at least at the home hobby level.

Sponsored
Sponsored

If you have the proper permits, theoretically you and your pals could cozy up in your handmade casket when the time comes. There are instances in the county of more than one person buried in a single coffin. For example, a mother and child were buried together in one local cemetery. There’s also a woman buried with her pet dog that had died years before and been stuffed and kept around the house for sentimental reasons and, perhaps, as a sure-fire conversation starter. Cremated remains of the previously departed are also sometimes buried in a loved one’s casket.

Environmental laws restrict what can be placed in a gravesite outside the coffin. One local man was refused the right to be buried with his Harley-Davidson, though that was a decision made by the cemetery management. State law would not have prohibited it as long as environmental hazards were avoided.

All such requests are very rare, according to most of the mortuary and cemetery managers I talked to. Each tactfully said they try to accommodate a family’s wishes. But one can safely assume they’ll just as tactfully try to talk you out of anything that pares their profit margin to the bone, as it were. Aside from being a bummer, of course, death is also a business.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Syrian treat maker Hakmi Sweets makes Dubai chocolate bars

Look for the counter shop inside a Mediterranean grill in El Cajon
Next Article

Drinking Sudden Death on All Saint’s Day in Quixote’s church-themed interior

Seeking solace, spiritual and otherwise
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader