Caskets are for the family, not the deceased, unless the now-deceased person specifically requested burial over cremation, as my ancestors, my family and I have. Now for a heartwarming tale.
A Scottish gentleman was hired by a funeral home to play bagpipes at a burial for a retired police officer. He was to be buried at a small cemetery in a remote area of Northwest Florida. Not being familiar with the area, and of course GPS is useless in many of our hammocks, the bagpipe player got lost on the way. Finally he found a small church with a cemetery out back - with a mound of fresh dirt. The workers were still there with their heavy equipment parked under a tree on the other side of the cemetery eating their sack lunches. Feeling remorseful for being too late for the burial but knowing that the deceased really wanted bagpipes, he set up by the grave and began to play. 20 minutes later, after Amazing Grace concluded, the equipment operators were in tears. The Scottish gentleman walked over to ask if they knew the deceased, as in common in many rural communities. As he approached, one of them, still wiping away tears, said "Sir, I've seen a lot of things in my time...but I've never seen all of this for a septic tank before!"
