Bereaved Turn To Digging Graves By Hand

58 year old Betty Starks was killed in a car wreck, leaving her family behind. After her death, her body remained above ground for nearly a month. Her family didn’t have enough money for a funeral and burial.

Starks’ sister Earnestine Green says things got worse when they found out Betty didn’t have insurance, “Didn’t finish filling out paper work and didn’t sign it. By not signing, no insurance.”

The family turned to Betty’s son and widower to save them from the financial consequences. Using a borrowed backhoe, picks and shovels, they dug her grave themselves.

Less than 30 minutes into the digging, the father couldn’t take anymore. His son led him away to a shady spot then returned to finish the job of digging the hole for his mother’s final resting place.

Earl Shaw with Shaw’s Funeral Home understands the financial burden funerals put on the bereaved, “People used to think two or three thousand dollars would be enough. Years ago it would have been enough. But now, with the way the cost is, seven or eight thousand dollars would be what you need to start with.”

When Jews help dig the grave of loved ones, it’s to honor the dead. Families at Temple Israel don’t worry about the cost of funerals. Rabbi Micha Greenstein says, “In Judaism, before a synagogue is built in the community…a burial society is the first thing established to take care of loved ones.”

But for the Christian family of Betty Starks there was no Church Fund.

Earl Shaw worked with the family to cut costs. Like his father before him, Shaw even allows families to pay after the funeral is over. Shaw admits, that kind of credit tied to emotion is risky, “You want to give everyone a meaningful funeral service when they pay. So a lot of time people will cut back on things that are not as important, such as a limousine.”

Shaw also thinks financial help from the State of Tennessee should include assistance with food and funerals, “People that are already receiving care could perhaps get on some type plan that Tennessee can develop. I know in other states they do have a plan.”

Tennessee is not alone in needing a plan to bury the poor and uninsured. In Michigan, bodies pile up in the Detroit Morgue. It’s the same story in other states as well.

If the trend is reversing back and families will once again dig the grave of a loved one, Rabbi Greenstein offers this word of hope, “The question is who buried Moses if Moses was all alone and the answer is: God Did.”

The family of a Memphis City School student killed earlier this month needs help covering funeral expenses.

18-year old Daniel Brown was shot and killed on November 18th after a dispute at Raleigh-Egypt High School. A 15-year old classmate has been charged with his murder.

An account has been set up at Renasant Bank in Germantown to help Brown's family pay for the funeral, you can donate at any area Renasant Bank, just specify the "Daniel Brown Fund."