An Essay on the cremation ceremony of Ed Rosenberg.

Our son Bothe told us about Ed Rosenberg’s death. The funeral was to be in two days, an open-air cremation at sunrise in Crestone. I felt hesitant about attending the funeral, yet felt deeply certain it was what I needed to do.

We were not close friends, had not been an intimate part of each other’s lives. We had only met the Rosenbergs once, although I remember that we recognized each other without being introduced. Our paths had crossed via the community radio station, then more concretely because our sons, Bothe and Abe, were friends, for a time roommates. But, our recognition of one another was beyond these sorts of associations.

The Crestone Cemetery is probably the only active cemetery in Colorado that made it all the way through the 20th century without requiring embalming, caskets, concrete vaults, and/or monuments. It is in pinon-juniper open woodland with sand and native ground cover and a spectacular view of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Now that many people want green burial without these restrictions, some are traveling to Crestone for cemetery lots.