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Services meet final needs of emigrants
By admin | March 13, 2007
Also on a funereal theme, the Galway Independent is carrying a story on “a mysterious Galway man”, now a New York resident, who has made a most unusual purchase – he has spent $100,000 so that he can be buried under Irish soil in America, where he has spent most of his life.
The Independent reports that Pat Burke from Tipperary and Alan Jenkins from Cork decided to start their website, www.officialirishdirt.com, when they realised that there were many Irish emigrants who wanted Irish soil as part of their funeral commemorations.
While most are contented with a three-quarter-pound bag of the specially-treated soil, which costs $15, the Galway-born businessman had a different idea. Mr Burke says the weathly New Yorker was “in two minds as to where he wanted to be buried (either in his native Ireland or his adopted USA), so he contacted us and got the best of both worlds”.
Pat added, “People living abroad get very sentimental about things and the idea of buying the soil or shamrock seed lets them feel a bit closer to home”.
Visit www.officialirishdirt.com.
Read the whole story at the Galway Independent.
There’s also another company that aims to meet the needs of emigrants contemplating what should happen to their remains – Ashes is a family-run service that will scatter cremated remains in Ireland.
Topics: arts and culture, services for emigrants | No Comments »