Pacific Interment Services in Emeryville is the place to go if you need mortuary services and want to avoid the guilt-loading, profiteering ways of the U.S. funeral industry. When a relative died a few years ago, our family used the Nautilus Society, since it's non-profit. At their office the Nautilous Society folks showed us a catalogue that pictured and described options for the container to be used in cremation. The catalogue, and the person describing the services, somehow made us feel that the more costly the container (pine! mahogany!), the more the deceased had been loved. \r
This summer when another beloved family member died, we followed the suggestion of a hospice nurse and checked out Pacific Interment. in Emeryville. There are no choices -- one price for cremation (with a simple cardboard box); one price for embalming. The people who came to get the body were respectful, efficient, and stayed in the background. When I went to pick up the ashes in their clean and straightforward Emeryville site, Pacific Interment provided a plastic box (there were varied urns in a display box, but no sales pitch was proferred). The Pacific Interment website is very informative and concludes by statingt that Jessica Mitford used their services. Mitford's 1960s expose of the U.S. funeral industry, THE AMERICAN WAY OF DEATH, first alerted me to the profiteering that surounds situations of bereavement. Her testimony sealed up our choice -- and our experience with Pacific Interment fully met our needs.
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