How innovative cremation services are giving a new spin to the end of life

I recently landed in Santa Fe, looking forward to meeting the stones.Not the aging but somehow still performing “Rolling Stones,” but the rare gray and robin’s egg blue stones that were once the cremains of Mark Cessarich, a 6’1, 64-year-old 2nd grade teacher-turned-economist, who passed away in July from a heart attack and diabetes complications.

His ashes were delivered by his daughter and son to Parting Stone, a company helping define the post-cremation space — a category in the funeral industry that’s become unexpectedly popular and plentiful.Parting Stone’s 8,000-square-foot, open space warehouse is based in southern Santa Fe.When I visited, 520 deceased people and pets were waiting for a space to open up on the production floor.

Over the next 10 to 14 weeks, they would go from ashes in a zippered plastic bag, housed in individualized cubbies, to, depending upon your bone density and skeletal size, 40-80 solidified, 1-to-3-inch, rounded, polished stones — all for $2,500. These claspable objects can easily fit in your pocket or bag, be divided out to family and friends, or purposely left in places that hold significant meaning to that person, or you.Justin Crowe, 36, is the CEO and founder of the 6-year-old venture and has created a method that utilizes all of one’s ashes while turning them into something tangible.In 2023, his “Shark Tank” appearance (with Kevin O’Leary and Lori Greiner investing in his first round) coincided with his perfecting the solidifying process, solving a problem that affects millions of people — what to do with someone’s ashes?“I would hear people say, ‘I’ve got my brother’s ashes in my closet.’ Or ‘I’m afraid to scatter my dog’s remains because the wind might blow,” Crowe said.

“The ashes were one of the most important, powerful objects in their life, but it also made them uncomfortable.” According to the Cremations Association of North America’s 2022 Cremation Memorialization Re...