He chose  what is called a green burial. There are no concrete vaults in green burials, there are no chemicals and metal coffins used.

Right now, there are about 300 places in 4 states that are approved to do this. There is a group called ‘The green Burial Council.

Steve liked the idea of a green burial because he spent a lot of time in his life hiking forests, plus he was involved in nature outings with his son’s Boy Scout Troop.

After being dignosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease, and ending up in a wheel-chair, he decided it was time to think about end of life preparations. He didn’t want to be cremated because he didn’t want to pollute the environment with gases that are given off during the cremation process.

He went on the internet and researched green burials. He found a place that does them that is 15 miles away from the tiny city of Goldendale Washington. He chose that place even though he lived in Oregon.

He ‘talked’ by pointing to a laminated piece of paper with letters on it.

There are two types of green cemetaries. Ones that aren’t allowed to use chemicals or anything that doesn’t decompose and hybrid cemetaries where they do traditional burials and green burials.

He died September 14 2010 and was buried in a shroud of blankets.  Since he was Jewish, every member of his family, according to tradition, put a handful of dirt on his grave. His family decorated his grave with pinecones and rocks and put yellow sunflowers on top of the burial mound.

I hope this article informed those who never heard of a green burial all about it.