Donald Francis Duncan loved the sea as a kid growing up in California and he loved it throughout his adult life, when he sailed on boats with names such as the Odyssey and Vaya - Spanish for "go."
Now, in death, he won't be separated from the water he so loved.
Yesterday, as his two daughters clung to each other and cried, an artificial reef containing his ashes was lowered by crane into the gray-green waters of the Chesapeake Bay. The rough-hewn concrete structures, which resemble a giant Whiffle ball, are intended to help restore the health of the bay by providing a coral-like habitat for fish and other sea life.
The Duncan sisters were among seven families who bid a final farewell to their loved ones in the excursion arranged by a Florida-based company that has since 2001 placed more than 700 memorial reefs around the country, including some off the shore of Ocean City. Yesterday was Eternal Reefs' first burial in the Maryland portion of the Chesapeake Bay.
These sort of green burials are becoming increasingly available as people become more environmentally aware or interested in alternatives to conventional end-of-life practices.
George Frankel, CEO of Eternal Reefs, says his products, which cost between $2,495 and $6,495, are designed for people who are unmoved by headstones and caskets.
"But if you can explain to them that you can help preserve the ocean or natural real estate, there's value to that, some tangible sense that 'I'm getting something back for my money,' " he said. "I think boomers particularly are looking for causes."
The Green Burial Council, a Santa Fe nonprofit that promotes eco-friendly practices, established a set of green standards and began certifying death care providers earlier this year. They already have given their stamp of approval to 100 funeral homes, a dozen cemeteries, three so-called cremation disposition programs (including Eternal Reefs) that help protect and provide habitat and lots of companies that make biodegradable, nontoxic caskets, urns and shrouds, said the executive director, Joe Sehee.
"This is the wave of the future," Sehee said. "If done correctly, it will be a very powerful, market-based conservation tool."
Gregory Wayne Hinkle, who died last year at 51, didn't see himself as an environmentalist. But he was an avid outdoorsman who loved to fish, hunt and spend time at the ocean.
