Lloyd Smith presents on the process of cremation from receiving the body to processing the cremated remains. He discusses the paperwork, safety procedures, operating the cremator, possible issues that can arise, and some unusual requests he has received over his career as a crematory manager. Smith has seen the cremation rate increase from 33% to 80% during his time in the industry.

1. Cremation
Procedures
By Lloyd Smith
All Around Nice Guy

2. Why hide Reason’s, or
Affection’s eyes?
The grave pollutes, the
furnace purifies
The Urn (1895)

3. Presented by
Lloyd Smith

4. I am a twin – Lloyd & Larry Smith

5. We are the only twins with TWIN
license plates for WA & OR

6. I was a teacher for 25 years

7. Grade school & middle school

8. I owned my own travel business

9. I was a National Park Ranger

10. A park ranger at Crater Lake

11. I taught at Rogue Community
College for 15 years

12. Now a funeral director/crematory
manager – the quiet profession

16. I work for the Dahl McVicker Group
Steele Chapel at Longview Memorial Park
Hubbard Funeral Home – Castle Rock
Dowling Funeral Home – Cathlamet
Dahl McVicker Funeral Home – Kelso
Fir Lawn Funeral Chapel – Toledo
Woodland Funeral Home – Woodland
Northwood Park – Ridgefield
Groulx Family Mortuary – Rainier

17. Our group makes about 750 calls/yr

18. When we started in 2002 we had a
cremation rate of 33% - now 80%

19. How many have never seen a cremation?
How many have seen a cremation?
How many have run a crematory?

20. Definition
• Cremation: The act of
reducing human remains
to ash by intense heat.

21. One of my favorite
crematory cartoons

22. Cremation Costs on a $1400 case

23. Running the crematory inspired my photography

24. Night drop for a funeral home

25. The best cremation poem ever
The Cremation of Sam McGee
There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee.

26. Doug Ferrin asked me to cover:
• Cremation steps from start to finish
• Tags, different states, operations
• How to avoid cremating the wrong body
• When to start the cremator and begin cremation
• Costs to run the crematory
• Cremator repairs & costs
• How much of the process is automated
• Type of gas used in the cremator
• Names of cremator components
• How different machines vary
• Problems and how to avoid them
• Anything else I want to cover

27. A bit on the history
of cremation
1-Early world history
2-USA history

28. • Scholars today quite
generally agree that
cremation probably began
in any real sense during the
early Stone Age – around
3000 B.C. – and most likely
in Europe and the Near
East.

29. • During the late Stone Age cremation
began to spread across northern Europe,
as evidenced by particularly informative
finds of decorative pottery urns in west
Russia among the Slavic peoples.
• Bronze age – 2500 to 1000 B.C –
cremation moved into the British Isles and
Spain & Portugal.

30. • By 27 B.C. to 395 A.D. – cremation was
widely practiced in the Roman Empire.
• Romans practiced cremation but was rare
with the early Christians. Under
Constantine’s Christianization earth burial
had completely replaced cremation except
for war or plague…for 1,500 years.
• Modern cremation began about 130 years
ago on both sides of the Atlantic with the
invention of the modern cremator.

35. • President George Washington asked his
aides to wait two days before burying him
to make sure he was really dead.
• One of the earliest Americans cremated
pushed for his cremation because he had
a fear of waking up underground in a
casket so he wanted to make sure he was
dead in the fire. Taphophobia.There are
rumors of finding scratch marks on the
inside of caskets once exhumed.

36. You could signal to the world that
you are still alive. Hence the term:
Dead Ringer

38. If you want to learn
more on the history
of cremation
Purified by Fire is a
very thorough read

39. An infamous use of the crematorium

40. When I was in Poland - Auschwitz

41. “Work sets you free”

42. Hitler’s crematorium - Auschwitz

43. Hitler’s ovens - Auschwitz

44. The body transports - Auschwitz

45. I want to encourage you to stay
healthy. So many old funeral
directors have bad backs. My gym

46. You will find your procedures will vary due to:
• State law
•The firm you work for
•The cremator make & model
• Personal preference to some
procedures

47. 1965 3.9% rate - 2011 42% rate

49. • In 2009 there were over
2,100 crematories and over
900,000 cremations…and
37% of deaths in the USA
were handled through
cremations. The national
cremation rate is expected
to hit 50% by 2018.

50. Cremations:
No Room for
Mistakes!!

51. Before the cremation – First Calls

52. When you take custody of the body

53. WA state law requires you to tag the
body on-site

54. We have family or attendant sign I.D. form

56. The $199 manual

57. Complete the paperwork

58. 1-get your assignment & paperwork
from the staff

59. 2-update the master board

60. 3-fill in the master cremation log &
assign cremation number

61. Master Funeral Home Log

62. 4-fill out master crematory board at
funeral home

63. 5-Load out - Since our crematory is
located 7 miles from funeral home
– final check before leaving

64. 6 – Load the van at Dahls

65. 7 - Headed to crematorium

66. Longview Memorial Park Crematorium

67. You can always tell where the
crematory is by the tell-tale stack.

68. What you do not want to see from
your stack – neighbors frown

69. Lindsay DeWeese Letteer did her
senior project at the crematorium

70. Lindsay DeWeest Letteer – Was a student
now a funeral director for our group

71. A few facts - comments
• We cremate 10-15 cases a week
• We have one person in charge of the
crematorium…me
• The cases do not twist and turn or sit up
• We started Oct 22, 2002
• We cremate 48 tons of humans each year
• We have moved from a 33% rate to 80%
• Always watching for errors
• We cremate over 500 cases a year
• Two WA State inspectors: “One of the best
run in state”

72. At the crematorium: Fill out the
master crematory board

73. Fill out SWCAA log

74. We have to send in an annual report

75. Fill out master crematory log

76. Master crematory log

77. 1-Transit Permit
Part of death certificate
2-In-house receipt that
is placed in client’s file

78. 3-Family permission form

79. 4-Photo ID of client 5-Property & I.D form

80. 6,7 & 8-Card, label and envelope

81. A consecutive company number tag is assigned to each
case, placed in cremator. We have now reached #6250

82. I put each new
stack of metal
I.D. tags on a
note spindle –
adds another
level of
organization –
no mistakes
allowed!

83. Oregon metal tags – dropped “H” tag,
tag now on paperwork, no difference

84. We used to place tag on front of cremator but busted by
state inspector – has to look ‘burned” – now place inside

85. The envelope is placed on cremator

86. Nobody has a prettier 13 yr old machine
than I have – I wax it regularly w/Mother’s

87. A very pretty…machine - 2006

88. Lindsay - 2014

89. 1-Cremation burner
Low fire/high fire
2-After burner
3-Hearth/air
4-Throat/air
5-Pollution control
Set timer 180 min
Load feet first
1st case fire 30 min
Cool 20-30 min
2nd case fire 20 min
Etc…

90. Safety First
1. Wear ear protection for noise
2. Wear eye protectors for flying ash
3. Wear heavy gloves to protect from burns
4. Wear face mask for dust & pathogens
5. Wear lab coat to protect clothes and arms
6. Wear rubber gloves to inspect bodies
7. Wear rubber gloves to process cremains
8. Universal precautions

91. Casket comes out onto transport
(Lindsay 2006)

92. Lindsay 2014 – 8 years later

93. What about pacemakers?

94. The left one turns into the one on the right –
BOOOOOM!

95. A blown pacemaker

96. I often have to remove pacemakers at
the crematorium – need to be licensed

97. Pacemakers a lump - on their left

98. Pacemaker removed

99. What about the gold in the teeth?

100. Wanted gold coin cremated. But
gold melts at 1800, could not find

101. Family very upset, should of used tile on top

102. Fingerprints for jewelry

103. Check, double check, triple check

104. Check ID, paperwork and board

105. Recheck for any valuables!

106. Two burners – after burner & main burner

107. Roller and number goes into cremator

108. Feet first – unless very heavy

109. Ready to light the fire

110. A very nice cremation casket

111. How about a $3500 casket?

112. We cremate some nice caskets

113. A beautiful home-made casket

114. Move it up a notch – a $7,000 casket

115. I have been asked to cremate some
odd things with the body…how about a
$1,000 Yamaha guitar.

116. What does a $1,000 guitar look like
after it comes out of the cremator?

117. Many request objects placed in
the cremation casket

118. Asked to add more odd stuff

119. Why we check pockets,
yes, shotgun shells

120. Cartoon sent to me dozens of times

121. We get odd placement requests

122. Set the control buttons

123. Controls – Power-Pak II

124. When you start the fire…equal to:

125. Not much you can do about it

126. We have a few people that observe

127. We have to accommodate religious
preferences – mother/son

128. A mother asked to watch her
teenage son being cremated

129. The mother swept her son out
of the cremator

130. Mom sorted & processed son

131. We do reposition the case

132. Inside the cremator

133. That is grease burning in the cracks

134. Sometimes we cremate them alive

135. But they do put up a fight

136. Use long brush to sweep out cremains

137. Sweep out cremains into container

138. A many $$$ heart pump-burned up

139. Knees – Hips – Back
We recycle

140. Baby pan

141. The processor

142. Cremains in processor’s cooling tray

143. Cremains poured into temp urn

144. Package the cremains – most do
not purchase a nice urn

145. Every once in a while we
sell a good urn. I use a
large funnel to pour the
cremains into the urn. I
pour in front of the
processor fan to catch the
dust. Always try to place a
bag in the urn but once in
a while we cannot get one
into the urn.

146. At times we are handed odd urn requests

147. How about a 1960s valve cover for an urn

148. Try a birdhouse urn

149. More unusual urn requests

150. How about an ammo box urn

151. What about pets? We comingle

152. How do you remove and
cremate a 700 lb person?

153. You call 10 fire fighters & an
ambulance with a lift-to Portland

154. All cremains are stored in locked cabinet

155. One big problem – Thermocouple out

156. Thermocouples burn out
Keep a couple extras around

157. The thermocouple measures
temp & controls the machine

158. Never know what you are asked to do

159. The decedent

160. When do you rebuild?
• Every 1200-1500 cases we have to rebuild:
• Floor
• Roof
• Walls
• Throat
• Possibly all of them
• Cost: $5,000-$10,000 for rebuilds
• We have to add $10 to every case for rebuild
• Company inspections $1200

161. When do you rebuild? When floor
falls into lower chamber (too late)

162. Replace roof

163. Material for rebuild

164. Tear off the roof skin – remove all

165. Jackhammer roof concrete

166. All removed

167. View from inside of the roof

168. Build roof form

169. In goes the roof form

170. Set roof supports

171. Pour roof one bucket at a time

172. Our Mathews crematory builder

173. Rebuilding walls – floor - throat

174. Roof looks good from last rebuild

175. Anybody want to apply to Matthews?

176. Through the floor

177. You can see lower baffle chamber

178. Taking off the walls

179. Laying the new walls

180. Going back to work

181. Taking out the 2nd wall

182. Laying the second wall

183. Building the floor forms

184. Pouring floor with new material

185. One bucket at a time

186. Hard work

187. Almost finished

188. A new bright and shiny cremator

189. Ready to accept new customers

190. How do you cremate Ebola?
• Full protective gear!
• Body wrapped in a plastic shroud
• Body placed in two sealed body bags
• Decontaminate outside of bag before move
• Cremation will kill any Ebola virus so the
cremains may be returned to family.
• 1,200 -1,800 degrees kills Ebola virus
• Call CANA 312-251-9929

191. One of the questions I am
continually asked:
• With all the stuff you see and experience,
do you have bad dreams? “I never thought
about it until you asked”.
• I have only had one dream…of a body
coming to life before cremation…on the
table. My only thought was to grab my
camera and get a photo of her. She would
not lie back down.

192. Two great books:
Fires of Change – Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

193. Another great read for you guys in
the death and dying business.
Roach discusses decay,
burial and its alternatives,
giving one's body to science
for anatomical studies
(where one might serve as a
practice for face lifting),
organ donation and brain
death, plastination,
preservation, embalming or
becoming a post-mortem
crash-test dummy.

194. Are you ready to:
Cremate a baby?
Cremate a toddler?
Cremate a teenager?
Cremate a friend or relative?

195. A historical photography twist:
Post-mortem photos

196. More Post-mortem photos

197. Finish with some of my photos

205. Any
Questions???
?

206. Contact information:
Lloyd Smith
360-749-2037
Lsmithtwin@comcast.net
PowerPoint:
http://bit.ly/cremation2015