PETERBOROUGH, N.H. When Nathaniel Roe, 92, died at his 18th-century farmhouse here the morning of June 6, his family did not call a funeral home to handle the arrangements.
The home funeral for Nathaniel Roe, 92, who died in Peterborough, N.H., on June 6. His family handled the arrangements.
Mr. Lakin works with a wood plane and a practiced eye.
Mr. Lakins bookcase coffin, which is two seven-inch-deep boxes hinged together.
Instead, Mr. Roes children, like a growing number of people nationwide, decided to care for their father in death as they had in the last months of his life. They washed Mr. Roes body, dressed him in his favorite Harrods tweed jacket and red Brooks Brothers tie and laid him on a bed so family members could privately say their last goodbyes.
The next day, Mr. Roe was placed in a pine coffin made by his son, along with a tuft of wool from the sheep he once kept. He was buried on his farm in a grove off a walking path he traversed each day.