Choosing Cremation

People choose cremation for several reasons, among them the preference for a simpler, more earth-friendly, less traditional approach at the end of life.  A funeral or memorial service may occur either before or after cremation, or there may be no service at all.  A service can be elaborate, simple, traditional or not.  More and more services are highly individual.  It’s all a matter of personal choice.

Choosing Where to Place the Ashes

Following cremation, one may opt for a more conventional approach such as placing the ashes in a columbarium or mausoleum.  Choices include burying the ashes in a family burial plot, interring them in an “urn garden” at a cemetery or scattering them in a space set aside as a “scattering garden.”

Ladies in White offers a final rest of a different kind, in a part of the United States greatly valued for its undisturbed wildlands and awe-inspiring natural beauty. In Montana, a state that has become known as “The Last Best Place,” secluded scattering spots can be found in the vast mountainous areas that surround wilderness, on lands adjacent to National Forests and Parks.  The Ladies are familiar with many such places and every scattering journey leads to a different destination.

Scattering takes place near public land, often near areas that are considered national treasures.
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Choosing Your Legacy

Most of us want to preserve our heritage for our children.  We want to pass on to future generations what we have valued.  One of the most basic legacies we can pass on is the clean water, fresh air and glorious vistas in the wildlands of the United States.

Ladies in White donates ten percent of the price of a scattering to organizations which work to preserve western wildlands in their pristine condition for all time – for the sake of your children and your children’s children.  May these treasured lands always be available to refresh their spirits, capture their imaginations and enrapture them with beauty.

Choosing Ways to Remember

The desire to memorialize the life of a loved one in some way is almost universal.  When those close to us die, we often search for ways to honor them.  We want to “do right” by our family members and friends, and we want to tell their stories so that their memory will live on.  Honoring a loved one might start simply with well-chosen words in an obituary or with the words spoken at a memorial service.  For many, finding the right final resting place becomes part of the commemoration.

Traditionally, friends and family are drawn to visit the place where the remains of a loved one reside.  They want a tomb stone at which to lay flowers or a plaque at a columbarium with the loved one’s name inscribed on it.  Alternatively, a shelf, table or nook in the family home, filled with the loved one’s photos and objects of meaning, can be a place to go for quiet reflection and remembering.

Ladies in White will provide the family with photos of the journey, a certificate stating the date of the scattering and location, and a one-page type-written description of the journey.  Taken together, these can be introduced into a memorial area in the home, included in a memorial book or simply tucked away for later, to be passed down through the family.

If, at any time, a family desires to visit the general scattering site, the information on the certificate combined with the photos, will be sufficient to help them reach their destination. For others, it will suffice to know that their loved one’s ashes are cradled near land set aside as our national heritage.