Trina L. Salter is the Service Manager at Neptune Society Altamonte Springs. She is a Licensed Funeral Director and Embalmer, Crematory Operator, and Licensed Cosmetologist. She also has an Associate Degree in Arts from Valencia Community College/UCF and an Associate Degree in Science from Florida State College at Jacksonville. She has been with our company for 6 years, and she has three beautiful daughters and a grandson. She is an avid traveler, loves to shop, and goes to the movies for relaxation.
In 1869, the idea was presented to the Medical International Congress of Florence by Professors Coletti and Castiglioni "in the name of public health and civilization". In 1873, Professor Paolo Gorini of Lodi and Professor Ludovico Brunetti of Padua published reports of practical work they had conducted.[17] A model of Brunetti's cremating apparatus, together with the resulting ashes, was exhibited at the Vienna Exposition in 1873 and attracted great attention[18] Meanwhile, Sir Charles William Siemens had developed his regenerative furnace in the 1850s. His furnace operated at a high temperature by using regenerative preheating of fuel and air for combustion. In regenerative preheating, the exhaust gases from the furnace are pumped into a chamber containing bricks, where heat is transferred from the gases to the bricks. The flow of the furnace is then reversed so that fuel and air pass through the chamber and are heated by the bricks. Through this method, an open-hearth furnace can reach temperatures high enough to melt steel, and this process made cremation an efficient and practical proposal. Charles's nephew, Carl Friedrich von Siemens perfected the use of this furnace for the incineration of organic material at his factory in Dresden. The radical politician, Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke, took the corpse of his dead wife there to be cremated in 1874. The efficient and cheap process brought about the quick and complete incineration of the body and was a fundamental technical breakthrough that finally made industrial cremation a practical possibility.[19]
Debra and the team at the Oviedo, Florida location were the best group of people I have ever had the opportunity to meet. My father preplanned his cremation with The National Cremation Society Oviedo office and when it came time to use the services they were great. I could not have had better service provided with compassion and kindness. All my questions were answered and each time I had to reach out to them I was provided with the utmost professionalism and immediate response. I could not be more pleased with the service and care provided during my family’s great loss of our loved one. Debra and all the Oviedo, Florida staff are simply the very best. Thank you all, Mike B.
You will likely need a funeral director to help you make arrangements for handling the body, but in many states, this is not required. If you are in an area that permits home funerals and burials, you may be able to handle most of the preparation yourself. See our page on home funerals and burials. As far as arranging the ceremony, you may find that you would like to work with a funeral celebrant. A funeral celebrant is a trained professional whose job is to help you plan the type of ceremony you would like.
At present there are four crematoria in operation at BIRKENAU, two large ones, I and II, and two smaller ones, III and IV. Those of type I and II consist of 3 parts, i.e.,: (A) the furnace room; (B) the large halls; and (C) the gas chamber. A huge chimney rises from the furnace room around which are grouped nine furnaces, each having four openings. Each opening can take three normal corpses at once and after an hour and a half the bodies are completely burned. This corresponds to a daily capacity of about 2,000 bodies... Crematoria III and IV work on nearly the same principle, but their capacity is only half as large. Thus the total capacity of the four cremating and gassing plants at BIRKENAU amounts to about 6,000 daily.[35]
Authorities had difficulties dealing with the large numbers of bodies, and as a result, thousands of bodies were cremated together out of fear that decaying bodies would cause disease. Many of these bodies were not identified or viewed by relatives prior to cremation. A particular point of objection was that the bodies of Westerners were kept separate from those of Asian descent, who were mostly locals. This meant that the bodies of tourists from other Asian nations, such as Japan and South Korea, were mass cremated, rather than being returned to their country of origin for funeral rites.[citation needed]
We’ll take you through the steps of arranging a funeral — from making the first calls when someone dies to taking care of the financial and administrative matters that have to be handled following the funeral. If a death has already taken place and you have not yet begun to make notifications, visit our First Call page. This page has information that can help you understand what steps you need to take right away. 

Is it disrespectful to not go to a funeral?


As all good warriors are, Ralph was strong and gentle. He gave his all to care for his family. Linda says, “He spoiled me rotten.” And his concern extended to those outside of his family as well, willing to help others in any way he could, almost to a fault. “He would talk to everybody and everybody would talk to him, even if he didn’t want them to”, Linda says. He was the kind of guy who, standing in a supermarket line, the person next to him would tell him their whole life story. His mother-in-law Mary, whom he affectionately called Maude, says he was the best son-in-law, and they had a wonderful relationship. She also remembers how mischievous he was – he used to purposefully annoy her by using her expensive Depression glass coasters as an ashtray.

Can a funeral be held at home?


    I will miss Luke losing his Spiderman at my house and needing to bring some toy home until we found it, or just bringing home a toy because he knew we would let him. We would get a kick out of watching him play play station with Jeff and Josh and knowing the controller was not hooked up but he thought he was playing anyway.I could go on and on about what we will miss about Luke our family has a lot of memories,a lot of laughs,and a lot of cries.

Our affordable plans have helped 100,000’s of Americans during one of life’s most challenging moments. We are proud to serve in Florida and to offer our families options to pre arrange with us. Florida residents can now make arrangements from the privacy of their home. Our simple 4 step process makes it easy to plan ahead. If at any point you have questions or would like to speak with one of our licensed funeral directors, just call our local office. We are here to help.
Suzie was born in 1977, and John in 1978. That same year, the family moved to Commerce and Ralph built a house there. Suzie and John’s earliest memories are of this house and its construction. Suzie remembers playing in the yard. John remembers the time they dug a hole in the backyard, and Ralph drove his tractor into it, not knowing the hole was there; and how they had to pull the tractor out. Linda says Ralph had the patience of a saint with the kids-- both their own, and the neighborhood kids. In the Fall, the maple trees on their property would shed tons of leaves. The kids would come to rake, but end up jumping and playing in the piles. Ralph would say nothing, and the next day, clean up the leaves properly. During this time, Ralph also went to college on the GI bill, and worked full time while attending school full time. John says his Dad would lock himself in the bedroom to study. Linda remembers how Ralph struggled with English and she helped him. As was consistent with his dedicated personality, Ralph persevered and received his two-year degree from Oakland Community College, with honors.

What happens when a family can't afford a funeral?


With the passing of my mother on January 31, all I really knew was she had pre-paid for her service with National Cremation Society. After making a few calls to various areas, I finally got an answer in their Tampa office who immediately told me that New Smyrna was in the Oviedo area. With one answer of the phone, NCS took over the entire situation with speed and professionalism. Stephen and his entire staff handled everything from pickup to shipment of the remains to Pennsylvania. My wife and I couldn’t be more grateful and are now considering having NCS handle our passing.
When my mother passed away unexpectedly, my siblings and I were shocked and devastated. She had previously said, "If anything happens to me, look in the hall closet." No one wants to hear or think about that, so the response was always "Nothing is going to happen to you!". Then one day it did. When we went in the closet and found a box with paperwork and an 800 number, the relief was immense. Now we knew, based on a contract signed by her, what her last wishes really were with no second-guessing. A phone call to an 800 number... Read More
The cremation rate varies considerably across countries with Japan reporting a 99% cremation rate while Poland reported a rate of 6.7% in 2008. The cremation rate in the United Kingdom has been increasing steadily with the national average rate rising from 34.70% in 1960 to 75.44% in 2015.[128] According to the National Funeral Directors Association the cremation rate in the United States in 2016 was 50.2 percent and this was expected to increase to 63.8 percent by 2025 and 78.8 percent in 2035.[129]
After the unexpected death of a family member, we were overwhelmed with the process of laying her to rest. Like anyone on a budget, I started calling around to get prices. It felt like an insensitive thing to do but cremation/burials is a competitive business, and believe me, the costs are startling. But then I called Oviedo’s National Cremation & Burial Society and their direct cremation option were surprisingly affordable – literally thousands less than the other local providers. Our family member made it known she wanted her ashes scattered at sea so a direct cremation worked for us. They even had biodegradable urns for sea burials. I had made my decision. Elizabeth Franco was the service manager who held our hands through this distressing time. She was kind, informative, and efficient. She maintained communication with us throughout the process and ensured we knew about all the keepsakes/services that their business provides to help preserve a memory. When we opted in, she offered guidance. When we opted out, she didn’t push. She replaced our stress with a sense of calm and that in itself was priceless. Elizabeth exemplifies what it means to serve during a time of crisis and hardship. I highly recommend Elizabeth and National Cremation & Burial Society.
The cremation rate varies considerably across countries with Japan reporting a 99% cremation rate while Poland reported a rate of 6.7% in 2008. The cremation rate in the United Kingdom has been increasing steadily with the national average rate rising from 34.70% in 1960 to 75.44% in 2015.[128] According to the National Funeral Directors Association the cremation rate in the United States in 2016 was 50.2 percent and this was expected to increase to 63.8 percent by 2025 and 78.8 percent in 2035.[129]

In early 2002, 334 corpses that were supposed to have been cremated in the previous few years at the Tri-State Crematory were found intact and decaying on the crematorium's grounds in the U.S. state of Georgia, having been dumped there by the crematorium's proprietor. Many of the corpses were decayed beyond identification. Some families received "ashes" that were made of wood and concrete dust.[127]


In Europe, there are traces of cremation dating to the Early Bronze Age (c. 2000 BCE) in the Pannonian Plain and along the middle Danube. The custom became dominant throughout Bronze Age Europe with the Urnfield culture (from c. 1300 BCE). In the Iron Age, inhumation again becomes more common, but cremation persisted in the Villanovan culture and elsewhere. Homer's account of Patroclus' burial describes cremation with subsequent burial in a tumulus, similar to Urnfield burials, and qualifying as the earliest description of cremation rites. This may be an anachronism, as during Mycenaean times burial was generally preferred, and Homer may have been reflecting the more common use of cremation at the time the Iliad was written, centuries later.
In Europe, a movement to reintroduce cremation as a viable method for body disposal began in the 1870s. This was made possible by the invention of new furnace technology and contact with eastern cultures that practiced it.[15] At the time, many proponents believed in the miasma theory, and that cremation would reduce the "bad air" that caused diseases.[16] These movements were associated with secularism and gained a following in cultural and intellectual circles.[15] In Italy, the movement was associated with anti-clericalism and Freemasonry, whereas these were not major themes of the movement in Britain.[9]

Elizabeth has been in the industry for about 20 years, attended mortuary school at Antilles College of Health of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and graduated in January 2000. She worked at Funeraria Viner in Bayamon, PR (1999-2003). In 2003, she relocated to Kentucky, and was unable to transfer her college credits. Elizabeth returned to college and got her Associate of Arts Degree in Funeral Service at John A. Gupton College of Nashville, TN, and graduated in December of 2006. Elizabeth moved to Florida in the summer of 2007 with her three children and completed her internship at Lakeland Funeral Home and Memorial Gardens (2007-2010). She received her Florida Funeral Director and Embalmers License in 2008. Elizabeth was promoted and was transferred to Harvey-Engelhardt Funeral and Cremation Services in Fort Myers (2010-2011). She then returned to Central Florida and worked at Funeraria y Crematorio Porta Coeli, Kissimmee (2011-2017) and Lanier Funeral and Cremation Services (2017-2018). She joined our Team in November of 2018.
Elizabeth has been in the industry for about 20 years, attended mortuary school at Antilles College of Health of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and graduated in January 2000. She worked at Funeraria Viner in Bayamon, PR (1999-2003). In 2003, she relocated to Kentucky, and was unable to transfer her college credits. Elizabeth returned to college and got her Associate of Arts Degree in Funeral Service at John A. Gupton College of Nashville, TN, and graduated in December of 2006. Elizabeth moved to Florida in the summer of 2007 with her three children and completed her internship at Lakeland Funeral Home and Memorial Gardens (2007-2010). She received her Florida Funeral Director and Embalmers License in 2008. Elizabeth was promoted and was transferred to Harvey-Engelhardt Funeral and Cremation Services in Fort Myers (2010-2011). She then returned to Central Florida and worked at Funeraria y Crematorio Porta Coeli, Kissimmee (2011-2017) and Lanier Funeral and Cremation Services (2017-2018). She joined our Team in November of 2018.
           Those sunset moments it turned out were a metaphor for their life together. Molly kept fighting her disease to the end.  She thought she would have more time, she thought she could hold on until a cure was found.  So did her friends and family. Only in middle-of-the-night phone calls with Meghan and her friend Shaye would she admit that she was scared.  Despite considerable pain from the disease that was spreading through her body, Molly continued  working until October.
I was fortunate enough to have Stephen Barreto assist me in making cremation arrangements for my husband, Robert H. Shaffer. Mr. Barreto was efficient and professional. He even arranged for the service at Cape Canaveral National Memorial Cemetery, in Mims, Florida. During this difficult time, his constant vigilance put my mind at ease. I would highly recommend National Cremation Services and Mr. Barreto to my friends and family. THANK YOU, MR. BARRETO!
In Israel, where religious ritual events including free burial and funeral services for all who die in Israel and all citizens including the majority Jewish population including for the secular or non-observant are almost universally facilitated through the Rabinate of Israel which is an Orthodox organization following traditional Jewish law, there were no formal crematories until 2004 when B&L Cremation Systems Inc. became the first crematory manufacturer to sell a retort to Israel. In August 2007, an orthodox youth group in Israel was accused of burning down the country's sole crematorium.[122] The crematorium was rebuilt within weeks by its owner and the retort replaced.
We are the Curry family out of Lakeland, Florida and my dad had made pre-arrangements with National Cremation in Oviedo, Florida years ago. He recently passed rather suddenly so the shock and sadness as to be expected was a big blow to our family. I made the call and decided to schedule a sit down meeting in person so we could grasp all of the details of what we needed to expect and do plus we needed an understanding on how this entire process works. We met with Stephen Barreto on 5/1/17 and I have to say he handled himself and this situation we are going through with amazing compassion, dignity and comfort to my family and we could not thank him enough. After we were completed my elderly mom had to hug him and exchanged kisses on the cheek with him because she dreaded this moment and we left there with complete gratitude and trust and peace. National Cremation certainly picked the right man for this job with a gifted ability to make his clients feel like human beings and not just a job. Thanks Stephen, we won’t forget you!

I was fortunate enough to have Stephen Barreto assist me in making cremation arrangements for my husband, Robert H. Shaffer. Mr. Barreto was efficient and professional. He even arranged for the service at Cape Canaveral National Memorial Cemetery, in Mims, Florida. During this difficult time, his constant vigilance put my mind at ease. I would highly recommend National Cremation Services and Mr. Barreto to my friends and family. THANK YOU, MR. BARRETO!
Robin Fisher and all the staff at the Oviedo location are consummate professionals who are a credit to their calling. You have taken care of our family for the second time and we cannot press our thanks adequately. Most of my family members are signed up with national Cremation secure in the knowledge that when our time comes they will take care of our families. Mike
Suzie was born in 1977, and John in 1978. That same year, the family moved to Commerce and Ralph built a house there. Suzie and John’s earliest memories are of this house and its construction. Suzie remembers playing in the yard. John remembers the time they dug a hole in the backyard, and Ralph drove his tractor into it, not knowing the hole was there; and how they had to pull the tractor out. Linda says Ralph had the patience of a saint with the kids-- both their own, and the neighborhood kids. In the Fall, the maple trees on their property would shed tons of leaves. The kids would come to rake, but end up jumping and playing in the piles. Ralph would say nothing, and the next day, clean up the leaves properly. During this time, Ralph also went to college on the GI bill, and worked full time while attending school full time. John says his Dad would lock himself in the bedroom to study. Linda remembers how Ralph struggled with English and she helped him. As was consistent with his dedicated personality, Ralph persevered and received his two-year degree from Oakland Community College, with honors.

What happens when a family can't afford a funeral?


Anyway, this one night, grandma and I were talking - as we often did, and she asked me about pets.  I said "well,when Lucas gets home, they probably shouldn't have any pets especially when he is neutropenic etc.  So, probably dog and especially cats would have to go".  Then she asked about fish.  I said "probably not, you know the whole fungal infection thing etc".  So Adie came back the next day, and we were cracking up, because she said "hey, you and my mom are getting rid of my pets, even the fish, changing the house around and everything - what else!!"..  we laughed SO SO hard about that.
We mourn our loss of a good husband, father, grandfather, father-in-law, son-in-law, and friend. There is a sense of unfairness that Ralph’s life would end just a couple of years before retirement, which he had many plans for. We mourn his dreams that will never be fulfilled. An old proverb says that: “Life is short, but wide”. Ralph’s life may have been shorter than we hoped it would be, but it was crafted meticulously with his own hands and filled wide with many, many happy moments spent with his family, whom he deeply loved.
As all good warriors are, Ralph was strong and gentle. He gave his all to care for his family. Linda says, “He spoiled me rotten.” And his concern extended to those outside of his family as well, willing to help others in any way he could, almost to a fault. “He would talk to everybody and everybody would talk to him, even if he didn’t want them to”, Linda says. He was the kind of guy who, standing in a supermarket line, the person next to him would tell him their whole life story. His mother-in-law Mary, whom he affectionately called Maude, says he was the best son-in-law, and they had a wonderful relationship. She also remembers how mischievous he was – he used to purposefully annoy her by using her expensive Depression glass coasters as an ashtray.

The final disposition depends on the personal preferences of the deceased as well as their cultural and religious beliefs. Some religions will permit the cremated remains to be sprinkled or retained at home. Some religions, such as Roman Catholicism, prefer to either bury or entomb the remains. Hinduism obliges the closest male relative (son, grandson, etc.) of the deceased to immerse the cremated remains in the holy river Ganges, preferably at one of the holy cities Triveni Sangam, Allahabad, Varanasi, or Haridwar in India. The Sikhs immerse the remains in Sutlej, usually at Sri Harkiratpur. In southern India, the ashes are immersed in the river Kaveri at Paschima vahini in Srirangapattana at a stretch where the river flows from east to west, depicting the life of a human being from sunrise to sunset. In Japan and Taiwan, the remaining bone fragments are given to the family and are used in a burial ritual before final interment.


           I have a story that I would like to share with you all today…..There was an apprentice gardener whot had just been selected to work in the Master Gardener’s garden.  The Master Gardener took great care and consideration in selecting the apprentice that would be working with him and all of His wonderful blooms throughout His garden.  The Master Gardener knew this selected apprentice was the best for the job to care and nurture for His precious flowers.  After several weeks of training, the Master Gardner decided to leave for awhile and let the apprentice take care of the blooms in His garden.  

The purpose of this website is to offer an affordable direct cremation service to families in the Orlando area. Compassionate Cremations Inc. is a family owned crematory. Owned and operated by Greg Banfield (licensed funeral director) and Korey Banfield (Licensed Direct Disposer). Our goal is to serve every family with the utmost care and respect during perhaps the hardest times of their lives.

What debts are forgiven when you die?


           With her children  on their own, Molly had more time for herself and was able to focus on activities such as redecorating, listening to her favorite music on CDs and growing roses.  The gardening was a further extension of her green thumb. She had always had lots of house plants and many people commented that her home resembled a jungle inside. Molly also loved the natural environment and hated to see the desecration of the desert.

Who works in a morgue?

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