Before going to the UK I looked into local cremation services and selected Pure Cremations in Bristol to perform that service. My selection was based on the fact that the Coroner’s office was in Bristol, and of the several cremation services Pure Cremations had the best and most informative response. The fact that their price was just a little more than the lowest didn’t hurt either.
The coroner released Scott’s body on August 8th, He was cremated on the 10th, and someone from Pure Cremations delivered the cremains to me in Bath on the 13th. All very professionally done.
When Kelly initially contacted the US Embassy in London about the process of returning Scott’s cremains to the US, she was given paperwork describing a long, involved, and expensive process. I am happy to say that pretty much nothing in that description was accurate.
The cremains were packaged in a plastic sack inside a cardboard box. I was also given a certificate identifying Scott as the deceased person, and providing other details. The official instructions stated that the box must be sealed and carried onto the plane with my carry-on luggage…assuming that the airline would even allow such a thing.
This worried me so I called Virgin Atlantic and explained the situation. The person on the other end expressed appropriate (perhaps more than appropriate) sorrow at my loss and told me there was no problem.
When I checked in for the flight I displayed the box and asked if I had to carry it with me. Absolutely not…I could put it in my checked luggage. So I did.
I do realize that my suitcase could have been lost, or someone could have stolen the box, thinking it was drugs (even though the certificate was taped to the box), and we would have lost Scott’s ashes. I read about lawsuits caused by just such events. But my faith in Virgin Atlantic was very high and I decided not to worry about this.
In case you are waiting for the other shoe to drop…everything went fine. I delivered the cremains to Kelly and she had most of them interred in the same grave holding their dad Aleck’s cremains. We will spread the remainder off the coast of Westport, where Scott and I spread Aleck’s ashes.