Respect
For The Dead
Isanti News
August 12, 1937
Last week I had three funerals to conduct and at each of these I
noticed and felt things which jarred me much. They set me to thinking
and I believe that a little expression of what I thought might prove
beneficial, and be productive of, a greater respect for the dead,
and a more humane consideration of the feelings of those who have
suffered the loss of some loved ones.
The first
of these was a burial of a young woman who had died at the Epileptic
Colony. The funeral was very simple. Only the mother and sister
of the departed were present. There was nothing wrong about the
number. But what revolted against me most decidedly was the fact
that we had to drive right through the barn-yard at the Colony
to get to the graveyard. That made me sick inwardly when I thought
of the mother and sister seated behind me in the car. To me it
gave the impression that we were taking the body to a "dumping
off place". (I understand it is more repulsive in the springtime
of the year when one must make one's way through manure piles before
coming to the cemetery!) Would you like to have your loved one transported
through such surroundings on his way to the grave? I think not. It
is a pity that such things have to exist. I understand that a road
is going to be built direct to the cemetery grounds, but it is slow
going, it seems. In the meantime, many a mourner will be further
torn apart in his heart by this barnyard episode at the Colony. I
do not mean to criticize those in immediate charge of the Colony,
for they may feel it as keenly as we do and be helpless in correcting
it, but I fear not to criticize the State for allowing such deplorable
conditions to exist. The Colony grounds are so very beautiful that
one expects to see that beauty carried out to God's Acre amid the
oaks. We trust that that will soon be a reality. It will help soften
the aching hearts of the mourners, instead of lacerating them.
Rev. Verner A. Granquist
Faith Lutheran Church, Isanti, MN
