More than half of all American deaths lead to cremations - about 28% did in 2002 - due to expense (they can cost a third the price of a burial), the environment and family members living far apart with less ability to visit cemetery plots, according to the National Funeral Directors Association. By 2035, the cremation rate is projected to be 80%, the association says. And cremation frees loved ones to stage a memorial anywhere, at any time, and to store or scatter ashes as they please. (Maintenance of cemeteries, if families stop using them, may become a preservation and financial problem.)
Mark Musgrove, a former president of the association who runs a network of funeral homes and chapels in Eugene, Oregon, says his industry, already marked by consolidation, is adapting to changing demands.
"Services are more life-centered, around the person's personality, likes and dislikes. They're unique and...
