OCEAN CITY, N.J. -- As if shooting them into space or
pressing them into artificial diamonds were not sufficiently
offbeat, the deceased can now have their ashes mixed into concrete
to help form ocean fish habitats.
A Georgia company has
placed about 200 of the concrete cones, called 'reef balls,' in the
ocean, mostly along the Gulf Coast. Last week, it interred cones
filled with the ashes of several former New Jersey residents about
seven miles off the shore as part of the Great Egg Reef.
Eternal
Reefs was founded by Don Brawley and George Frankel in 2001 after
Brawley, an accomplished diver, had the idea of mixing human ashes
with concrete to make the reef balls into memorials.
"Most
states with reef programs buy artificial reefs," Frankel said. "We
like to think that we're buying public reef balls with private
money."
Burying a loved one's ashes in a reef ball can cost
between $1,000 to $5,000. Decatur-based Eternal Reefs also has two
models for pets, for $400 and $500.
The balls have
grapefruit-sized holes in them to dissipate currents, and their
surface is dimpled to encourage coral growth.
The company
received approval from the New Jersey Department of Environmental
Protection to put ashes in the reef installations. The Great Egg
Reef also contains decommissioned Army tanks and old tires cabled
together.
Relatives and friends of those interred last week
said they wanted to do something more tangible with their loved
ones' ashes than scattering them or leaving them on a shelf.
"I thought we would get my three kids together and we would
sprinkle them on the ocean," Kit Aronson, who buried the ashes of
her husband Robert, told The New York Times for Saturday's editions.
"But this is doing it in a more identifiable fashion, where the kids
can see where he is. Not in a mausoleum or Arlington Cemetery, but
outdoors."
Ruth Townsend, a close friend of the Aronsons,
deemed it a fitting memorial to a man who loved the shore.
"For Bobby, it wasn't about the beach, it was about the
ocean and fishing," Townsend said. "This man would fish in the snow,
and this way, he's part of the sea, and part of its renewal."