Eternal Reefs memorialized 5 individuals at the Port Isabel Reef near S. Padre Island in the Gulf of Mexico.
On Monday, November 8th 2004, five Texans will be buried at sea in Eternal Reefs artificial reef balls off the coast of South Padre Island, Texas. This will mark the second memorial reef burial at the Port Isabel reef site. Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) October 26, 2004 -- Families will attend the viewing and reef placement ceremonies for Austin and Houston, Texas natives Nene Sims, Glenn Rowe Pollard, Charles Pratt, Iris Schaa and Lola Kate Van Cleave. Eternal Reefs is the only company in the United States to offer underwater burial at sea in artificial reef balls. For families and individuals that choose cremation rather than burial, Eternal Reefs offers a new memorial option that replaces cremation urns and ash scattering with a permanent environmental living legacy. As reef systems have declined from natural disasters, Eternal Reefs will supply South Padre with memorial reef balls to develop local environmental ecosystems. Healthy coral reef systems are vital to both fishing and scuba enthusiasts, providing a fundamental undersea habitat that attracts diverse marine life. Establishing new reefs is a tool that is used to take the pressure off the natural reef systems and help repair the damage that has been done by mankind. As a fishing and diving reef site, South Padre will provide a nurturing environment for fish and other forms of sea life that are critical to the environment. An astonishing 45 percent of families that have chosen cremation still have the remains at home sitting on a shelf or in a closet. An Eternal Reef is a permanent memorial option that takes the remains and creates new life in the form of reef habitat for fish, turtles and other forms of sea life. Cremation is growing dramatically in the United States, and by 2010, the procedure may be included in 40 percent of funerals, according to the Cremation Association of North America. About Eternal Reefs Inc. Eternal Reefs, Inc is an Atlanta-based company that provides creative environmentally enhancing means to memorialize the cremated remains of a loved one. The company incorporates cremated remains into a concrete mixture used to cast artificial reef formations. The artificial reefs are dedicated as permanent memorials while also bolstering natural coastal reef formations. Contact Eternal Reefs Inc. at: www.eternalreefs.com
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND ? It?s unlikely that the five people buried at sea Monday had ever met each other or had much in common, other than where they lived. Yet their appreciation of the Gulf of Mexico brought their loved ones together to leave an ecological legacy, as their concrete-encased ashes became part of an artificial reef on the ocean floor. Atlanta-based Eternal Reefs twice has placed cremains in 65 feet of water about seven miles from South Padre Island. "We?re trying to mimic the way nature does it," said Eternal Reefs Founder Don Brawley. Brawley was working in the computer field when his stepfather told him he would like to be laid to rest in an artificial reef. The idea stuck, and Brawley convinced others to come on board. Eternal Reefs currently is the only company in the country that offers such burials. With many cremations, family members place the deceased?s urns on shelves or in garages. Brawley called them "shelf people" and said they often looked for a fitting tribute, which Eternal Reefs provided. "We?re creating a permanent environmental legacy that will last for generations," he said. Houston psychotherapist Kay Van Cleave?s mother, Lola Kate Van Cleave, died 13 years ago. When Van Cleave saw a story in the newspaper about Eternal Reefs, she knew she had found what her mother would have wanted. "I used to think, ?I?m not going to have my mother be in a file cabinet someplace,?" she said, telling the story of writer and poet Dorothy Parker, whose ashes spent 15 years in a file cabinet in her lawyer?s office. "I?ve already told the executor of my will that this is what I want done to me," Van Cleave said. As the Osprey ? on leave for the day from its usual deep sea fishing excursions ? bobbed on the foot-high waves, family and friends of Iris Schaa dropped iris flowers into the water and burned incense in a spiritual ceremony accentuated by a traditional nautical prayer from the crew of the Port Isabel shrimp boat "Far Horizon," which lowered the reef balls slowly into place. The memorials look like wiffle balls cut in half, with concave holes and pitted surfaces to give marine life a place to take hold. Gary Drew Lindsey of Conroe plans to visit Iris Schaa while scuba diving. Lindsey said he would like a similar burial, but off a fishing community in Brazil instead. "This woman was like a mother to me," said Lindsay, who retired from oil exploration. "She and her husband talked me out of going to Vietnam, so she has a dear place in my heart." Keith Glenn of Houston lost his wife, Nene Lizabeth Sims Glenn a year and a half ago. He and his three grown children wanted to do something appropriate for the environmentally conscious writer with a master?s degree from Rice University. "It seemed like such a natural thing to do because we?re giving back to the environment with this," said Glenn, who works in the oil industry, explaining that the serenity of the ocean was a "marvelous" way to give him a sense of closure. And compared to burial in a cemetery, "If you had to pick, it?s really no choice." For more information, visit http://www.eternalreefs.com/ or call 888-423-7333.
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