Not sure how to ask this (cremation question)

[Ivory_Tower]

Does anyone know what is usually done with a cremation urn after the ashes have been scattered?

We had an unusual situation after my father passed away -- the funeral home said his ashes didn't fit in the urn and gave us an urn and a cardboard box(!). Plus, the urn was sealed, and we were going to scatter his ashes. When we pointed this out to the funeral home, they apologized profusely and gave as a more appropriate urn, but told us to keep the original urn (even though it was now empty).

So, we scattered my Dad's ashes, and now I have two empty cremation urns. I have NO idea what to do with them. I've been moving them around for a couple of years now. They don't really have sentimental value since they weren't a large part of my life, and I certainly have better things by which to remember my father.

Does anyone know if anybody takes donations of things like this? (My father's coffin was donated to a local monastery, for instance.) Or should I hold onto the bigger urn for when my own ashes need scattering? (But I still don't need the smaller urn.)

Thanks for the help. Just an odd question before I go to bed tonight (this should make for some interesting dreams...)

[mykpart]

1. When my grandmother was cremated,

we weren't given an urn - just the cardboard box with the ashes. I would say bury it wherever the ashes were scattered. I plan to be cremated, so this question is a good one for me to know. Now I will include in my will instructions about the urn. I hope you get an answer to your problem.

[Ivory_Tower]

3. Thanks

Given that his ashes were scattered in the ocean/beach, that probably won't work (although I suppose I could toss the urn into the ocean next time I'm there). I'll have to think about alternatives.

Good point about including instructions in the will. I'll have to remember that.

[carpetbagger]

2. Sounds like two good choices.

I have no idea who wants an urn, though.

[sistersofmercy]

4. My father was cremated but all was buried.

[Lady Freedom]

5. Ask the funeral home!

Some can take it and recicle it, as in take it and smelt it down.

[Ivory_Tower]

6. Duh, why didn't I think of that!

Thanks!

The larger urn is ceramic, but the smaller one is brass. The funeral home didn't want the brass one back when we "upgraded", but we never thought to ask about what to do with either of them after scattering.

Thanks again.

[SoCalDem]

9. I would imagine that there would be some flukey law

prohibiting the "re-use" of an urn..

You might donate it to a nursing home.. They probably have elderly people there who do not have much money.. Maybe a family could actually use it :(

[FloridaJudy]

7. Oh urk!

I've encountered a few cremation problems in my time, but nothing as weird as yours are...

1) My Dad asked to be cremated. He bought memberships in two burial societies just "to be safe". When the poor guy finally croaked, the first mortician high-jacked his body from the morgue, and demanded upteenth thousand dollars for the burial..

Fortunately, my dad's will was clear enough, that when we threatened the A**hole with a mega-suit, he was forced to turn the body back to the second mortician, who burned my father with dignity, and turned the ashes over to my mother. She kept his remains on the mantlepiece for two decades.

2) Twenty years later, my mother died. The last she asked of me and my sister was that her ashes be mixed with those of my father and scattered in a peaceful place. Unfortunately, she'd designated her lunatic brother as legal surrogate before that..

3) Both my mother's AND my father's remains are now somewhere in Northern California in the care of mad-man, along with their house, which was probably worth a million dollars, before our crazy uncle decided to run it down...

Sigh. So it goes.

[Shanty Oilish]

8. I bury empty urns.

If you don't have a cemetery you're partial to, bury it in the backyard garden with some nice appropriate arrangement of rocks and flowers. Or toss it in the ocean after the ashes. Or donate it to a cemetery. Offer it to the local florist. If you're totally detached from it, ebay it.