Deceased made into diamonds

Families pay to keep loved ones near

The Associated Press
ST Louis- When William Lucas' mother died nearly two years ago; he found and unusual way to keep her memory close at hand. The general contractor from Kitty Hawk, N.C., had some of "Momma Luke's" ashes converted into three synthetic blue diamonds, each about a third of a carat. One is set into his wedding band. "The analogies are end- less - Mom was radiant in life, a real gem," says Lucas, 50. "I can't express the con- nectedness I feel with this on my hand." The diamonds were the work of LifeGem, a 3-year- old company based in subur- ban Chicago, that said it has crafted close to 1,000 of the diamonds for about 500 fam- ilies in a business that is steadily growing. The company markets the diamonds in several coun- tries, saying they offer a "closeness and mobility" you can't get from the tradi- tional forms of commemo- ration, a tombstone at a bur- ial site or an um of ashes. "I think more people are looking for more personal ways to remember some- body," said Dean Vanden- Biesen, LifeGem's vice president of operations. "Rather than having ongoing mourning for someone's loss, people are wanting to celebrate a life."
"Mamma Luke"
Lucas read about Lifegem before his mother's January 2003 death from cancer at age 73. Always fru- gal, he recalled she initially objected to the cost but acknowledged "once I take my last breath, it matters not." He fulfilled her wish to be cremated and have her ash- es scattered under the aza- leas at an Episcopal church in Charlotte, N.C., but kept enough to have the three diamonds at a total cost of $9,000. Two stones will go to his college-age daughters after their studies are over, he said. "I'm so pleased that I went ahead and did it," he said. "I had my doubts and trepidations, but to me these gems are priceless, just like my mother." LifeGem uses 8 ounces of a person's ashes, typically less than a tenth of a per- son's total cremated remains, to make a diamond through a process that can take a few months. Carbon extracted from the ashes is subjected to the extremes of heat and pressure, and the resulting stone is cut and faceted like any gem. Prices vary from about $2,500 for a quarter carat to about $14,000 for a full carat, VandenBiesen said.
He said many families request more than one gem, with his company's largest order yet coming from a family that wanted 11. While he declined to provide num- bers, he said the privately held company was making a profit, with sales exceeding projections. He said an expansion into Japan in October has resulted in a rush of orders. In the United States, more mourners could turn to the product as cremation is becoming an increasingly popular option. According to the Cremation Association of North America, the per- centage of the dead that are cremated was nearly 28 per- cent in 2002 and is projected to rise to 35 percent in 2010 and 43 percent in 2025. Retired factory worker Ruth Lord of Coon Rapids, Minn., is waiting for a dia- mond crafted from ashes of her 36-year-old son. He died last year, and Lord, who still wears some of her son's clothes around the home to feel he's near, ordered a quarter-carat diamond for a ring in September. The rest of his ashes were spread in Montana, where he once snowmobiled with friends. "When you lose someone you really love, you miss them terrible. You want them close to you," she said.
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