Chicago Tribune

Natural burial sites, at-home funerals, change how families say goodbye

Jeffrey Rich woke up last July to find his husband not breathing beside him in bed. When Jeff Wright, 57, could not be revived, Rich started looking for ways to honor his life, and to help the living heal.

The couple had talked of death. "I want to be food for trees," Wright had said, leading Rich to decide on a natural burial at Carolina Memorial Sanctuary near Asheville, N.C.

He searched the 11-acre grounds for the perfect spot in which to place Wright's un-embalmed body that would be covered in a home-dyed quilt. He found it on a slight rise with views of two mountains where a dragonfly,

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