1:30pm Tour of White Eagle Memorial Preserve & lunch (advance purchase or bring your own)
3:30pm Workshop #3: Creating a Death Plan & Planning for a Natural Burial – led by Jodie Buller, Cemetery Manager for White Eagle Memorial Preserve
5:00pm Symposium Closing, departure from White Eagle
Workshop Descriptions
Natural Burial: Why, How, Where – led by David Noble, Executive Director of River View Cemetery, with Jodie Buller of White Eagle Memorial Preserve (presenter bios below). Natural burial (also known as green burial) is a simple, meaningful, and environmentally-friendly method of disposition, which allows individuals to practice their ecological values during and after death. Learn:
What natural burial is, how it works, its human and ecological benefits
Why natural burial is an increasingly popular choice in the Pacific Northwest
How natural burial lends itself to crafting relevant and meaningful end of life rituals
The unique urban and rural options provided by two Green Burial Council-certified non-profit cemeteries in the region: historic River View Cemetery in the heart of Portland and White Eagle Memorial Preserve in the Columbia River Gorge
Home Funerals, DIY Memorials & Other Rituals of Remembrance – led by Holly Pruett, Life-Cycle Celebrant & Home Funeral Guide (presenter bio below). We care for our loved ones in life. How can we be more involved in caring for their bodies after death, and make an ongoing place in our lives for our beloved dead through rituals of mourning, memorialization, and remembrance? Learn:
The history of family-directed death care
Legal and practical considerations for home care of our deceased loved ones
How a supportive funeral home can support family-directed death care
Inspirational examples of “Do it Yourself” (DIY) home vigils, memorials, and other rituals of remembrance
A case study of one family’s home vigil, natural burial, DIY memorial, and remembrance rituals
Creating a Death Plan & Planning for a Natural Burial – led by Jodie Buller, Cemetery Manager for White Eagle Memorial Preserve (presenter bio below). Expectant parents are encouraged to think through delivery scenarios and develop a birth plan. Creating a death plan involves facing the fact of your mortality and thinking through the setting in which you’d like to die, how your body will be cared for after death, disposition of your body, and how you’d like to be memorialized. Learn:
The advantages of creating a plan and communicating it with others
The pros and cons of paying in advance
A basic framework for thinking through your plan
Special considerations if interested in planning for a natural burial
How to work with a funeral home, cemetery, or crematorium to ensure your family is as hands-on as you want to be
David Noble, Executive Director of River View Cemetery ~ David Noble has been serving Oregon families for 43 years as a funeral director, embalmer, cemetery owner, and currently, as Executive Director of River View Cemetery in Portland. Five years ago, River View began offering the option of burial without embalming, without an outer burial container, or even without a casket, throughout the entire cemetery. Natural burial now constitutes over 25% of River View’s burials. David is an avid supporter of green burials, as well as home funerals, and has made presentations on the merits of green burial at numerous national and local conventions of funeral directors and cemetery owners/operators.
Jodie Buller, Cemetery Manager for White Eagle Memorial Preserve ~ Jodie Buller is the Cemetery Manager at White Eagle Memorial Preserve at Ekone Ranch, a Conservation Burial Ground outside Goldendale, WA. White Eagle works with funeral homes and with families directly, to offer meaningful burials in 20 acres of ponderosa and oak forest wilderness. Jodie walks people through the process of deciding their own end of life plans, and handling the logistics involved in burying loved ones. She is a celebrant and hosts burial receptions at the White Eagle cabin in the Ekone Ranch valley.
Holly Pruett, Life-Cycle Celebrant & Home Funeral Guide ~ A Life-Cycle Celebrant and Home Funeral Guide, Holly works with individuals, families, and communities to create unique, personalized ceremonies from cradle to grave. As a community conversation leader, Holly has organized PDX Death Café (the largest in the world) since 2013, and was the driving force behind the 500-person conference Death:OK (Let’s Talk About It). The Natural Death Care Symposium marks the launch of her latest community education offering, the Death Talk Project.
From 2016–2019 the Death Talk Project organized workshops, rituals, Death Cafés, a monthly movie night, and other events. This legacy site documents our approach to useful, honest conversation about how we die, how we mourn, and how we care for and remember our dead.
Earth Day Natural Death Care Symposium
2018 Event: Saturday April 14, Portland
Archival Information on our 2016 Event:
Natural Burial, Family-Directed Funerals & Rituals of Remembrance: 3 workshops, a film, conversation, site tours & lunch
A day of learning & conversation to honor Earth Day – in Portland on April 9, 2016 & the Columbia Gorge on April 29-30, 2016
Attend all or part of our day-long program in either location:
Symposium Schedule: April 9 2016 at River View Cemetery in Portland
Symposium Schedule: April 29-30 2016 in Hood River & Goldendale
Friday, April 29 2016
Saturday, April 30 2016
Workshop Descriptions
Natural Burial: Why, How, Where – led by David Noble, Executive Director of River View Cemetery, with Jodie Buller of White Eagle Memorial Preserve (presenter bios below). Natural burial (also known as green burial) is a simple, meaningful, and environmentally-friendly method of disposition, which allows individuals to practice their ecological values during and after death. Learn:
Home Funerals, DIY Memorials & Other Rituals of Remembrance – led by Holly Pruett, Life-Cycle Celebrant & Home Funeral Guide (presenter bio below). We care for our loved ones in life. How can we be more involved in caring for their bodies after death, and make an ongoing place in our lives for our beloved dead through rituals of mourning, memorialization, and remembrance? Learn:
Creating a Death Plan & Planning for a Natural Burial – led by Jodie Buller, Cemetery Manager for White Eagle Memorial Preserve (presenter bio below). Expectant parents are encouraged to think through delivery scenarios and develop a birth plan. Creating a death plan involves facing the fact of your mortality and thinking through the setting in which you’d like to die, how your body will be cared for after death, disposition of your body, and how you’d like to be memorialized. Learn:
Sponsored & Presented by
Presented as a community service by the non-profit burial grounds River View Cemetery & White Eagle Memorial Preserve in partnership with Holly Pruett, Life-Cycle Celebrant and Home Funeral Guide, with support from Passages International and the Hood River Library’s Grave Matters discussion series.
Register for the April 9th Portland symposium
Register for the April 29-30 Columbia Gorge symposium
Download a flier
The Death Talk Project
From 2016–2019 the Death Talk Project organized workshops, rituals, Death Cafés, a monthly movie night, and other events. This legacy site documents our approach to useful, honest conversation about how we die, how we mourn, and how we care for and remember our dead.
Non-Commercial Deathcare Info
Check out Oregon Funeral Resources & Education and The Funeral Partnership for other states.
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