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Heritage, Music and Death: When Irish Eyes are Smiling

Monday, August 31st, 2009

The other day, we listed songs, singers and directors from President John F. Kennedy’s funeral in 1963. This past Friday evening, Kennedy’s brother, Senator Ted Kennedy, was memorialized in a special televised tribute to his past before the burial that was slated for Saturday at Arlington National Cemetery. Z on TV wrote:

Set at the John F. Kennedy Library with the flag-draped coffin of Ted Kennedy front and center, politicians, friends, family members and performers came together to remember Kennedy’s life by turning 3 hours and 17 minutes of television time into a celebration and elegy.

By the time the event ended with two Irish tenors and the Boston Community Chorus leading the gathering through one of the most soulful renditions of “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” that I ever heard, it felt like mission accomplished on providing a proper sendoff to one of the most towering political figures of the last half century…

…There was testimonial after testimonial as to how much Ted Kennedy loved music despite his own limitations as a singer, and some of the most elevating moments Friday night were musical: Brian Stokes Mitchell singing “The Impossible Dream” and the Boston Community Chorus singing “Just a Closer Walk With Thee.”

The video above captures the song, “When Irish Eyes are Smiling,” which conveys the emotions – including joy – that were conveyed during this rendition of an unlikely funeral song. The two Irish tenors were Colm Wilkinson and John McCormick. The song was a pointed reference to Ted Kennedy’s Irish heritage.

This song was published in 1912, and the lyrics were written by Chauncey Olcott and George Graff, Jr. and set to the music of Enerst Ball for Olcott’s production of The Isle O’ Dreams. The song was published at a time when songs in tribute to a romanticized Ireland were very numerous and popular both in Britain and the United States. During the First World War the famous tenor John McCormack recorded the song. The song is now in the public domain, since it was published in the USA prior to 1923. To that end, the lyrics follow:

There’s a tear in your eye,
And I’m wondering why,
For it never should be there at all.
With such pow’r in your smile,
Sure a stone you’d beguile,
So there’s never a teardrop should fall.
When your sweet lilting laughter’s
Like some fairy song,
And your eyes twinkle bright as can be;
You should laugh all the while
And all other times smile,
And now, smile a smile for me.

[Chorus]

When Irish eyes are smiling,
Sure, ’tis like the morn in Spring.
In the lilt of Irish laughter
You can hear the angels sing.
When Irish hearts are happy,
All the world seems bright and gay.
And when Irish eyes are smiling,
Sure, they steal your heart away.

For your smile is a part
Of the love in your heart,
And it makes even sunshine more bright.
Like the linnet’s sweet song,
Crooning all the day long,
Comes your laughter and light.
For the springtime of life
Is the sweetest of all
There is ne’er a real care or regret;
And while springtime is ours
Throughout all of youth’s hours,
Let us smile each chance we get.

[Chorus]

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Posted in Alternatives, Funeral Arrangements, Funeral Songs | 1 Comment »

Understanding the Modern Christian Funeral

Sunday, August 30th, 2009
Christians lean on the Bible for solace and lessons in life and in death.

Christians lean on the Bible for solace and lessons in life and in death.

If you were asked to attend a Christian funeral, what can you expect? Without going into the history of Christianity, a few notes about Christian funerals can provide basics for those who are not Christians. Even if you are Christian, you may be a Catholic and the deceased may have been a Baptist. You may realize, in this latter case, that the Christian burial for the deceased may be a new experience for you.

At the very base, all Christians believe in life after death, and they direct their lives to achieve eternal life in heaven. They believe that Jesus was the Son of God and that he came to earth to teach individuals through lessons and actions. These lessons, which are contained in the Christian Bible, also teach that a true believer in Jesus and the Christian faith will be forgiven for sins as a result of Jesus’ sacrifice and gain eternal life in Heaven.

Ideally, this lesson is the base for the Christian lifestyle, but it serves as the base for the Christian funeral as well. With that said, Christianity has splintered into many different religions and each one holds close its own interpretation of the Bible. While some religions may be more ritualistic, others may be more casual and others still may resemble each other in all but small details.

No matter the pattern of worship, the funeral service typically shares the same format and serve the same purpose across the board – to to pray for the soul of the deceased and to offer comfort and support to the bereaved.

For those who are not familiar with the Christian funeral, you can expect:

  • The service to be opened by a prayer or a statement made by a religious leader such as a priest or a minister, a pastor or preacher. This leader, in most cases, will set the tone of the funeral service by praying for the deceased, asking for prayers for the deceased and showing comfort for the family of the deceased.
  • Funeral guests are encouraged to join in with prayers, singing and may provide readings throughout the funeral service. Don’t worry if you don’t know the prayer or the song or reading. In many cases, the words are available in a hymnal, a prayer book or – in some larger churches – in a slide shown on a screen. Although words may be available, you do not need to participate. But, if the congregation is asked to stand or kneel for certain portions of the service, you might honor the deceased by following along.
  • Depending upon the religion, scriptures might be read by the religious leader or by a guest or family member. These readings often vary by religion.
  • Depending upon the religion, friends or family members may honor the deceased with a eulogy, a song or a poem.
  • The service usually ends with a prayer offered by the religious leader, who usually states that the service is over. Unless the service is a memorial service – where the body of the deceased is not present – or a service that does not include a burial (such as a service for a person who has donated a body to science), the religious leader may lead funeral guests to the graveyard.
  • Many times, religious funeral services are not held in the church or even in a funeral home. Some religious services may be held at the graveside. In this case, you still may expect basically the same format as listed above.

In most cases, the Christian funeral is somber, despite the joy that many Christians profess at the possibility of attaining eternal life. Dark-colored clothing is appropriate, and cell phones and recording devices normally are frowned upon. Beyond this, if you are asked to attend a ‘get-together’ or post-funeral wake, all bets are off. Even Christians who attend a wake after the funeral often do not know what to expect, as these gatherings usually are shaped by religion, by cultural preferences, by the manner of death and age of the deceased and by the mood and traditions set by the surviving family.

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Posted in Cemeteries, Funeral Arrangements, Funeral Basics, Funeral Hymns, Funeral Prayers, Funeral Songs, Graveyard Etiquette | No Comments »

Presidential Funeral Music

Saturday, August 29th, 2009
John F. Kennedy Jr. salutes his father's casket as it leaves St. Matthew's Cathedral.

John F. Kennedy Jr. salutes his father's casket as it leaves St. Matthew's Cathedral.

If the weather holds against Hurricane Danny, Senator Ted Kennedy’s burial is slated for this evening at Arlington Cemetery. While the news has been filled with information regarding the Senator’s death, honorary tributes to his life, interviews to gather various perspectives on political, friendly and family relationships and even information about where, exactly, the Senator is to be buried, little if anything has been said about the music that might be played during the funeral procession, during the Requiem Mass, or at Arlington Cemetery.

But, one might look at previous funerals – especially one of another Kennedy – to learn more about music that might be played at a funeral that is both Catholic and that belongs to the nation. When President John F. Kennedy was buried on 25 November 1963, a Washington Star music critic writer made note of the music he heard on that day. Irving Lowens wrote:

Last Monday, millions watched the solemn procession of the caisson from the Capitol to the White House, from the White House to St. Matthew’s Cathedral, from the cathedral to Arlington National Cemetery and as they watched, heartsick, they listened.

What music did they hear?

Every momentous event breeds legends, and already the legends about the music that accompanied the  dead march proliferate. Some are entirely wrong.

From that point, Lowens proceeded to list the events that occurred during the entire funeral that day and the music that underscored those events. While you can learn more from Lowen’s article posted at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum Web site, the list below can provide you with the music that accompanied President Kennedy’s casket that day, who played, sang or directed the music, and the order in which each piece was played.

Whether or not any piece listed below might be played during Senator Kennedy’s funeral proceedings is unknown. After all, the causes of death between the two brothers were different, as were the standings of the brothers politically. For instance, “Hail to the Chief” would never be played during any funeral other than a president’s funeral. But, other musical choices may show a tie between the brothers. As one author noted, “Ave Maria” was sung at President Kennedy’s funeral, at his wife Jackie’s funeral in 1994, and at the 1998 funeral for Michael Kennedy, President Kennedy’s nephew and the son of John’s brother, the late Senator Robert Kennedy.

Capital Plaza (lying In State): The Coast Guard Academy Band played: “Ruffles and Flourishes” four times, “Hail to the Chief,” and the hymn, “O God of Loveliness”

Funeral Procession to White House: Three service bands marched in the following order in the funeral procession: the Marine Band; the Navy Band; the Air Force Band. Each organization had an approved repertory of three pieces which were played during the 35-minute march as seemed appropriate. Marine Band selections were: “Our Fallen Heroes,” “Holy, Holy, Holy,” and “The Vanished Army”; Navy Band selections were the Beethoven “Funeral March,” the R. B. Hall “Funeral March,” and “Onward Christian Soldiers”; Air Force Band selections were the Chopin “Funeral March,” the hymn, “Vigor in Arduis” (Hymn to the Holy Name), and “America the Beautiful.”

White House: The Naval Academy Catholic Choir sang three selections at the north portico: “Above the Hills of Time the Cross Is Gleaming” (Londonderry Air) “Eternal Father, Strong to Save,” and “Dona Nobis Pacem.”

Funeral Procession to St. Matthew’s Cathedral: Music was provided by nine pipers from the Black Watch of the Royal Highlanders Regiment, who played “The Brown Haired Maiden,” “The Badge of Scotland,” “The 51st Highland Division,” and “The Barren Rocks of Aden.”

Arrival at Cathedral: The Army Band played “Ruffles and Flourishes” four times, “Hail to the Chief” and the hymn “Pray for the Dead.” (satellite television coverage ended when the Cathedral doors were shut, and resumed again when the doors reopened after the Requiem Mass)

Requiem Mass: The choral music during the mass was sung by the St. Matthew’s Choir, Eugene Stewart, organist and choirmaster, the tenor soloist was Luigi Vena (who had sung at John and Jackie Kennedy’s wedding). The program was as follows: “Subvenite” (choir); “Pie Jesu,” Leybach (tenor solo), “Ave Maria,” Schubert (tenor solo); “In Manus Tuus,”  Novello (tenor solo); “Sanctus and Benedictus,” Perosi (choir). Mr. Stewart conducted the Perosi “Sanctus and Benedictus;” the Gregorian “Subvenite” and the “In Paradisum” were led by James Walsh.

Conclusion of Mass: The Army Band played “Ruffles and Flourishes” four times, “Hail to the Chief,” and the hymn “Holy God, We Praise Thy Name.”

Funeral Procession to Arlington National Cemetery: The music used was the same as that for the march from the Capitol to the White House, with the service bands proceeding in the same order.

At the Cemetery: The Marine Band played “Ruffles and Flourishes” four times and then “The Star Spangled Banner.” As the coffin was moved from the caisson to the burial site, the Air Force Pipers played “Mist Covered Mountain.” Following the 21-gun salute and the three artillery volleys, “Taps” was played by Army bugler Sgt. Keith Clark. During  the closing flag-folding ceremony the Marine Band played the hymn, “Eternal Father, Strong to Save.”

To learn more about President John F. Kennedy’s funeral, visit Wikipedia, Arlington National Cemetery Web site or Fifties Web.

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Posted in Funeral Arrangements, Funeral Hymns, Funeral Songs | 1 Comment »

How to Write a Eulogy

Friday, August 28th, 2009
Think of writing as small blocks of information to be delivered as a whole.

Think of writing as small blocks of information to be delivered as a whole.

My mother already has written her obituary, because she’s afraid that someone will mess that little piece of writing up and she won’t be around to correct it. But, she can’t write my eulogy for her, a task that could fall on my shoulders if I’m around when she passes on. You see, she can write what she wants in her obituary; however, she cannot write what I would want to say about her once she’s gone. The eulogy belongs to the person who delivers it, not to the deceased.

With that said, you might wonder how I would write that eulogy. Basically, the eulogy – which is a speech about the deceased’s positive attributes delivered from the deliverer’s perspective – is written just like any other speech. It has a beginning, a middle and an end. All three parts of the eulogy may take a few hours or days to write, only because writing is difficult for many people and because you do need to do a bit of research. But, it only takes five to ten minutes to deliver a eulogy.

So, you can think of a eulogy like you would a big meal that takes hours to prepare but only minutes to devour. Within that analogy, you can prepare your eulogy like you would prepare a meal. You know that you want an appetizer, a main dish and a dessert. This may help you organize your eulogy in chronological order. Additionally, as you’ll see below, the meal can be broken down further to help you organize other information.

For the appetizer, you might want to choose a quote, poem or text from a famous person that best describes the deceased for you. Not only will this appetizer help fill a void that many novice writers face – writer’s block – it also can help you determine the overall theme for the eulogy. Plus, the quote or text can provide contrast for the rest of the eulogy. For instance, a funny quote could provide a nice entry into a heartbreaking eulogy. Or, a somber quote may lead into an amusing perspective on how the deceased lived his or her life.

The main meal is divided into three sections – the main dish and two side dishes. To organize this meal, you’ll want to know many things about the deceased, such as:

  • The deceased’s vital statistics, such as birth date, age, etc.
  • Family names and other close relationships
  • The deceased’s education, his or her work or career information
  • Hobbies or special interests
  • Where the deceased lived
  • Special accomplishments

You may never use all the above information, but the sheer volume of that information can be pared down to highlights. Pick one main point that stands out for you and embellish it. That would be the main dish. Pick two other “side dishes” that will complement the main dish, and you have the middle of your eulogy.

Finally, the dessert, or the end of the eulogy. While the dessert is unlike the appetizer in many ways, it is part of a circle – the end of a full text (or meal). So, bring the eulogy back to the beginning and end it with the same tone and – to make it even easier for you – with a paraphrase of the same information you used to lead into the eulogy.

As you go along, practice what you have written. This practice can help you to remember what you have written, and this recitation also can help you time your eulogy. But, be warned – it can take a lot of writing to fill five minutes’ worth of time. At the same time, you can realize why all that information-gathering is so important, as you may need it to embellish that meal a bit more.

Most importantly, write in your own voice. In other words, write the way you talk. This method may help you to voice your information about the deceased in a more natural manner and the task won’t seem so intimidating. Plus, you’ll want to think about the deceased and the relationship you had with him or her. Add information about where and how you met, things you did together along with the moments that stand out for you. Finally, talk about the things you will miss most about the deceased when you realize that person no longer will share in this life with you.

This is why my mother can not write my eulogy for her, because I will write about what my life means without her. And, if I pass on before she does, she may write about what her life might mean without me. No matter how much we would like to speak for each other in life, the eulogy can provide a vehicle for the survivor to speak from love uninterrupted.

For more tips on writing eulogies, visit How to Write a Eulogy at Speech Topics Help or an even easier way to write a eulogy at WikiHow.

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What is a Eulogy?

Thursday, August 27th, 2009
Leading the mourning.

Leading the mourning.

Did you know that eulogies often were written in high praise or commendation of a person? Today, eulogies most often are associated with funerals, but the word derives from the Greek eu, meaning a combination of “good” or “well” and “true” or “genuine” and logy, or a termination of nouns referring to writing. The eulogia in the Greek Orthodx Church was a blessing. Today, the eulogy is known as a speech or writing in honor of a deceased person.

Before the death connotation, the elegiac was made popular in Greece. The elgiac refers to a composition with a Classical meter of two lines, making it a couplet. The first line is dactylic hexameter, followed by a line of dactylic pentameter. This type of poetic form dates back nearly as far as the epic, and one of the greatest first elegiac poets was Philitas of Cos. Often, the elegiac poetic form praised a person who was alive at the time of the writing.

This Hellenistic poetic form spread throughout ancient Europe, and Sextus Aurelius Propertius, an Italian who died about 15 BC wrote four books of elegies in Latin, totaling 92 poems. One example:

Cynthia prima suis miserum me cepit ocellis,
contactum nullis ante cupidinibus.

“Cynthia first captivated wretched me with her eyes,
I who had never before been touched by Cupid.” (I.1.1-2)

Over time, the elegy became a poem written in mourning. The eulogy, however, was transformed from a speech or writing in praise of a person or thing to a tribute to a deceased individual, and it never became a poem. Eulogies still can be delivered at births and at weddings, so the term can be very confusing. This is a list of things that are not eulogies:

  • Eulogies are not elegies, as eulogies are speeches, whereas elegies are poems.
  • Eulogies also are not obituaries, which are published biographies that recount the life of the dead.
  • Eulogies also are not obsequies, the latter referring generally to rituals that surround funerals.
  • Eulogies are not dirges, which are mournful songs that express grief.
  • Eulogies are not encouraged by every religion. Catholic priests are not permitted to present a eulogy in place of a homily for the deceased during a funeral Mass.

This is what a eulogy is about:

  • Eulogies can praise a living person (during celebrations such as birthdays, weddings, retirements, etc.), but many people today do not associate the term “eulogy” with the living.
  • Eulogies often are spoken to the living who are severely ill or close to death in order to express words of love and gratitude before that person dies.
  • Eulogies most often are delivered by family members or close friends during a funeral.
  • Eulogies also can be called a “panegyric,” or a formal public speech, or “(in later use) written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or thing, a generally highly studied and discriminating eulogy, not expected to be critical. It is derived from Greek meaning a speech ‘fit for a general assembly.’”

Do you need to write a eulogy for a deceased loved one? Don’t panic – you don’t need to be a poet to write a eulogy. In the next post, you’ll learn how a eulogy is constructed and the content you might use for that speech.

Posted in Death & Dying, Funeral Arrangements, Funeral Eulogies, Grief and Grieving, History of Funerals, Traditions | 1 Comment »

The Christian Funeral Hymn

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009
Church singing, Tacuinum Sanitatis Casanatensis (XIV century).

Church singing, Tacuinum Sanitatis Casanatensis (XIV century).

Although funeral hymns have been a necessity for religious funerals since the eighteenth century, in a sense there are no true funeral hymns. In other words, few if any classic hymns were written specifically for funerals. Instead, many hymns chosen for funerals are those that remind the family of the deceased, the deceased’s life or his or her beliefs.

Hymns have been described as sacred poetry set to music and they have been part of the Christian tradition and the Jewish from which it was derived, although not always written specifically for the masses. Psalms and specially-composed sacred songs were widespread in Christian worship by the fourth century and some suggest that passages in the New Testament are quotes from hymns already in use (see below).

However, political changes within religious bodies have steered the history of hymns. During the Medieval era, singing of hymns by anyone other than officials in the Catholic Church was considered an ‘error of Popery’ or carnal formality. Hymns at that time were written for aristocracy and performed in private chapels by professional musicians and were not to be shared with the unwashed masses.

Public church music at that time consisted of plainchant hymnody, or music that inspired discipline and little joy. However, with the Reformation in the sixteenth century, church music took on new meaning. The Book of Psalms was chosen and given rhyme and verse structures to make the verses easy to sing and to understand in an otherwise illiterate congregation.

Congregational music became inclusive after Benjamin Keach, minister of the Particular Baptists in Southwark, England, persuaded the majority of his congregation to sing a hymn one day at the end of Communion. He asked them to remember the Gospel account of the Last Supper (Matthew 26:30), “And when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives…”

Twenty years later, in 1691, Keach published a paper declaring the necessity of public singing in churches. In 1697, he published a collection of thirty-seven hymns. But, the writer who began the new era of the Christian hymn was Isaac Watts (1674-1748), whose hymns are still sung by Protestant congregations today. Two of his most famous include “Joy to the World” and “When I Survey the wondrous Cross.”

Although many great Christian songwriters have contributed to religious hymns over the centuries, none of these hymns were dedicated solely to funerals. With that said, the development of Gospel music as an aid to evangelism during the eighteenth century also proved a great aid to development of songs that provided solace to surviving families of the deceased. Gospel music, deeply influenced by English brothers John and Charles Wesley, was created to stir the emotions and feelings of the congregation in direct contrast to metrical psalms and well-controlled congregational hymns.

Today, in funeral arrangements, the deceased may have made specific wishes for music, or the surviving family may choose among a variety of options for the funeral service. Gospel, folk, traditional and even chants are used to characterize the life of the deceased for these occasions. In all cases, the suggestion of appropriate words within the hymn should be considered. As Music for Church Choirs states: “If the funeral is followed by a trip to the crematorium, for example, steer them [the surviving family members] away from the hymn Sing Hosanna. Why? Have a look at verse 4…”

“Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burning,
Give me oil in my lamp, I pray.
Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burning
Keep me burning till the end of day.”

To avoid the issue of words within hymns, many families choose instrumentals instead. But, those families dedicated to the church often know well in advance the hymns that are close to the deceased’s heart, as hymns are part and parcel today of any religious experience – including death.

To read more about the history of Christian hymns, try Baptist Hymn Writers, History of the Christian Hymn, Encyclopedia’s Hymns or Wikipedia’s Hymn.

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The History of Funeral Cards

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
A German holy card from around 1910 depicts the Crucifixion.

A German holy card from around 1910 depicts the Crucifixion.

If you attended a funeral, you may have received a card – similar to a bookmark or the size of a playing card – that commemorated the deceased. Although these cards became popular in the 1880s, today they most often are issued by a funeral home or church. You may be surprised, however, that the history of these cards dates back to the invention of lithography in the 1700s, when the Catholic Church began to print and issue Holy Cards.

Holy Cards typically depicted a religious scene, such as the one shown here, or a saint in an image about the size of a playing card or a collectible baseball card. On the reverse side of the image, a prayer with a promise of a indulgence for the recitation of the prayer was printed. Some Holy Card later were embellished with lace surrounding the borders, and they were known as dévotes dentelles by the French. The cards known as dévotes dentelles or Andachtsbilden (German origin) were carefully crafted of paper or parchment with paper cuts of saints, borders, and the like.

Lithography allowed a wider circulation of these Holy Cards, and the reach was broadened by card especially made for distribution at funerals. These funeral cards were known as “memorial cards” and carried details of the deceased with a photograph as well as prayers printed on the reverse side. By the end of the nineteenth century, Protestants began to print their own images, known as Bible Cards or Sunday school cards with images of Bible stories and parables, modern scenes of religious life and a printed sermonette instead of a prayer. Not to be left behind, the Protestants also began to print funeral cards for their deceased.

These card usually were mass-produced until the 1920s. According to Jay Ruby in Secure the Shadows: Death and Photography in America, the companies that manufactured and printed these cards all altered their mass-production to single-user production to expand their businesses. This quote, from Your Guide to Cemetery Research, state:

[H.F. Wendell and Company, for instance,] would pay a penny an obituary to women from all over the United States who would collect the notices from local newspapers and mail them to him. The women were recruited with small ads in dozens of small-town newspapers. Based on the information obtained from the obituary, a card would be printed on speculation and sent with a catalog and other promotional material.

Today’s funeral cards come in a variety of formats. In most instances, the card will contain the name and vital statistics of the deceased and may contain a photograph. In other cases, the cards are “memorial obituaries,” where the obituary is clipped from the paper and encased in plastic.

You can find fascinating collections of Holy Cards and funeral cards online, such as the one offered by Hrynkiw Genealogy. Modern funeral cards are offered by various companies as well, including those produced by MoMorial Cards or Remembrance Cards.

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Non-Traditional Kids and Your Will

Monday, August 24th, 2009
Adopted family of Mr. Clark Griffith 1925.

Adopted family of Mr. Clark Griffith 1925.

If you are making a will, or if you made one so long ago that you don’t remember what it contains, you may want to change that will to reflect your current conditions both financially and in the growth or diminishing rate of your family. If your family has grown, you may have included what are known as “nontraditional” children. These children would include children from previous marriages, adopted children and even illegitimate children. How can you provide for them in your will if you desire?

In most states, adopted children are treated as equals to your blood-related children unless you indicate otherwise in your will. To avoid problems, you might specify in your will that words such as “child,” “children,” “sons,” or “daughters” include (or exclude) any adopted children. If you simply state in your will that gifts will got to your children, without indicating which children, children from all your marriages may be included with that terminology.

If you marry someone with children from a previous marriage and you do not formally adopt these stepchildren as your own, they may not be included in your bequest to your children unless you specify this information. If you’re a male, most states may consider a bequest to children to include only legitimate children. In the case of a mother, a bequest to children usually may include illegitimate children.

Additionally, if you leave bequests to your beneficiaries’ children, the same rules would determine who is and who is not included in your request.

You may not like to think about what would happen to your children if you and/or your spouse or partner would die, you should construct your estate plans to account for that possibility. You can use a guardianship, trusts and other legal devices to ensure your children are cared for if the worst should happen. Accordingly, it is important that the adopted child understand his or her origins when the time is right, otherwise your death may be the harbinger of unpleasant surprises.

To learn more, you might visit any one of the following sites:

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Posted in Death & Dying, Estate Planning, Talking with Children, Wills & Estate Planning | No Comments »

Football-Related Deaths: Should you worry?

Monday, August 24th, 2009
A Texas high school student and football player watches the game.

A Texas high school student and football player watches the game.

It’s that time of year again, when parents gear their sons up to play football with twice-daily summer football practices. And, unfortunately, a football-related death due to heat (and, in this case, obesity) already has been reported. Should you worry about your sons and their participation in this time-honored high school sport?

In 2004, a comprehensive report printed in The Seattle Times sought to reassure parents about high-school football safety. In this article, Dr. Frederick Mueller, who heads the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research at the University of North Carolina, stated, “It’s [high-school football] probably safer than kids getting in a car and driving on the highway.”

According to numbers compiled by Mueller’s center, the death rate for football players at the high-school level last year was 0.13 per 100,000 (there were no deaths last year in college football)…The death rate for male drivers between the ages of 15 and 24 years old, meanwhile, is 48.2 per 100,000, according to numbers published in 2001 by the University of Maryland Medical Center.

The article also compares the rate of death now compared to the beginning of the twentieth century, when the deaths of 18 players in 1905 led President Theodore Roosevelt to bring together leaders of some of the top football-playing schools in the country and revamp the rules to make the sport safer. Some have written that football might not exist today if not for Roosevelt’s involvement.

Another huge change in how high-school football was conducted came in the mid-1970s. “From 1966 to 1972, there was an average of 25 deaths directly related to football at the junior-high, high-school and college levels each year, with a high of 36 in 1968. Concern over those numbers led to rules in 1976 outlawing leading with the helmet while blocking or tackling. Most deaths were the result of either brain or spinal-cord injuries suffered during helmet-to-helmet contact. Throughout the country, coaches began teaching tackling with the shoulder and keeping the head up.”

According to the Seattle article, the decline in football deaths was almost immediate – from 18 in 1976 to four in 1979 (note that the same number of players died in 1976 as in 1905 as noted in the previous paragraphs). Since the introduction of that rule, there have never been more than 12 deaths directly related to playing football at all levels nationwide since 1986. Since 1986, the high has been eight, including zero in 1990 and one in 1994.

Other penalties have also been enacted through the years with safety in mind, such as the 1981 ruling to eliminate blocking below the waist and more strictly enforced penalties for roughing the passer and spearing in recent years. Equipment has also undergone a evolution that most observers say has also led to a safer game. Helmets, for instance, have been constantly updated and there has been little evidence that headgear problems have been a factor in recent deaths. As equipment and rules have changed to improve safety, however, players have continued to get bigger and stronger – thanks to similar improvements in weight training and nutrition and year-round workouts – throwing another complicating factor into the equation.

Despite this change in muscular development, The National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA) issued a report [PDF] in July this year that stated, “high school football players sustain greater head accelerations after impact during play than do college-level football players which can lead to concussions and serious cervical spine injuries.” The NATA report hypothesizes that physical maturation and the associated neck strength and endurance of the high school athletes might explain the discrepancy between their collegiate counterparts. On average college athletes weigh 33 pounds more than high school athletes, but they stand only 1.2 inches taller, suggesting collegiate athletes have a more developed musculature system that is better able to control head motion after impact.

Although high-school football is full body-on-body contact sport between young men who may not be physically developed to the collegiate level, it is the practices that worry parents. When two-per-day practices are conducted in August – known as the hottest month of the year in many places – the question arises to whether such grueling practices are necessary for high-school sports. This debate is getting just as hot as the weather, as a high school coach from Louisville, Kentucky, will go to trial today on charges of reckless homicide and wanton endangerment in the heat-exhaustion-related death of one of his players in 2008. CNN reports:

The Kentucky case is one of the recent heat-related fatalities in football that made headlines. Since 1995, 39 football players have died in heat-related deaths, triggering new practice guidelines, wrongful death lawsuits and even criminal charges. Last year, six football players died from heatstroke – four of them were high school students, according to the Annual Survey of Football Injury Research. “There is no excuse for any number of heatstroke deaths since they are all preventable with the proper precautions,” the report authors wrote.

To address heat concerns, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 2003 prohibited two-a-days on consecutive days and during the first five days of practice. The NATA suggested similar guidance in June this year. Guidelines for high school football vary by state, however; additionally, many coaches have objected to the reduction of practices based upon the immature status of players – both physically and mentally – to be unable to prepare for games without the two-a-day regimen.

For more information about football injuries and what you might do to keep your sons safe while playing this sport, visit the NATA site. As in earlier years, the practice and the game for high school students may change with – hopefully – safer standards for high school football.

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Posted in Causes of Death, Death & Dying, Death Care News | No Comments »

The Open Casket Photograph

Sunday, August 23rd, 2009
Open casket photos remain popular in parts of the U.S.

Open casket photos remain popular in parts of the U.S.

In Victorian times after photography was invented and before it became common for anyone to own a camera, a photograph of a corpse was a common occurrence. Even today, at some funeral homes, it isn’t uncommon for the family members to photograph Uncle Joe or Aunt Margaret as they lay in repose upon white silk. But, the practice is far less common now then it was in the early twentieth century, simply because it seems everyone today owns a camera.

You often can find open-casket photographs at auctions or even on eBay. These photographs were not Photoshop products, as that software did not exist. Old tintypes of dead babies sitting on their mother’s lap were favorites, especially if that mother never had a photograph taken of the baby while he or she was alive.

This was the reason behind the open-casket corpse photograph – photographs of family members often were rare treats in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and if family members traveled a distance to view the deceased and to see family members for the first time in a long time, the casket photo might prove to be the only photo that some family members had of a person. There have been stories about families that took the deceased from the casket so the corpse could sit with family members in a group photograph.

The ’strangeness’ of a casket photo has increased with the proliferation of cameras and, especially, with digital cameras. However, digital cameras often provide the viewer at a wake with an opportunity to capture a photograph of the deceased with very little notice from other mourners. In other cases, such as a recent funeral near Appomattox, Virginia, little was thought about a cousin who snapped photos of the deceased and mourners so distant relatives could share in the death rituals.

With that said, in many cases, photographing the deceased in the casket often is frowned upon today, and this practice often is seen as macabre. If you never have seen an open-casket photo, you can find one at Dr. Fong’s House of Mystery Web site (a situation that may provide a clue as to how some people now feel about this historic practice).

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Posted in Funeral Arrangements, Funeral Basics, History of Funerals | No Comments »

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