Gone to the Grave

A RICH SURVEY OF FOLK PRACTICES PRIOR TO MORTUARIES AND THE FUNERAL INDUSTRYBefore there was a death care industry where professional funeral directors offered embalming and other services residents of the Arkansas Ozarks--and for that matter people throughout the South--buried their own dead. Every part of the complicated labor-intensive process was handled within the deceased's community. This process included preparation of the body for burial making a wooden coffin digging the grave and overseeing the burial ceremony as well as observing a wide variety of customs and superstitions.These traditions especially in rural communities remained the norm up through the end of World War II after which a variety of factors primarily the loss of manpower and the rise of the funeral industry brought about the end of most customs.Gone to the Grave a meticulous autopsy of this now vanished way of life and death documents mourning and practical rituals through interviews diaries and reminiscences obituaries and a wide variety of other sources. Abby Burnett covers attempts to stave off death; passings that for various reasons could not be mourned according to tradition; factors contributing to high maternal and infant mortality; and the ways in which loss was expressed through obituaries and epitaphs. A concluding chapter examines early undertaking practices and the many angles funeral industry professionals worked to convince the public of the need for their services.Abby Burnett Kingston Arkansas is a former freelance newspaper reporter. She is the author of When the Presbyterians Came to Kingston: Kingston Community Church 1917-1951.