Get your death off to a good start

Organ or piano?

Roses or carnations?

Casket or cremation?

Death was the topic of a four-hour workshop Saturday at Colorado Springs Senior Center.

Seven people showed up to plan their funerals.

None were sick or intended to die anytime soon. But, when their days are up, their grand send-off would be set, whether it was six-feet-under or in an urn or — as in the recent publicized controversy regarding a Colorado Springs woman — a cryogenics institute.

“We’re all going to die sometime,” said Earl Minton, 83, who attended the workshop with his wife, Dorothy. “We want to make it easier on our kids.”

Randy Larson, 43, a former funeral home director, conducted the free workshop to test out his new business, Funeral Consulting Services.

After years in the funeral business, Larson said he saw the need for an independent planning service.

“The Baby Boomers are like, I want to plan it all,” he said. “The want to control their destiny.”

Larson created a workbook for clients to document personal preferences as well as a detailed guide with pictures and particulars about local funeral homes and cemeteries.

In a way, planning a funeral is like planning a wedding. You have to chose a florist, chapel, musician, minister, outfit and get a permanent address, so to speak.

Larson explained the range of options and itemized costs. While he spoke, participants filled in worksheets on everything from desired hairdo to whether they wanted their glasses to stay on.

They even wrote their own obituaries. “It takes time to look up all the family members and spellings. It can be an added burden (for survivors) to go through this,” Larson said.

The preparation is really for the loved ones. “You’ll be gone,” he said.

Maybe so, but Wanda Johnson, 53, wants to go out in the style of her choosing.

“I like roses. Probably pink or white or a spring mix. Something real cheerful,” she said. “I need to work on my music selections and my passages and my husband wants me to write my own eulogy. He thinks that I know myself best.”

The dizzying variety of caskets, in wood, metal, waterproof and bug-proof materials, invoked lively discussion.

“We are all going to rot anyway,” said Abe Herrera.

His 75-year-old wife, Tina, hadn’t decided on cremation or burial, but she was adamant on other matters.

In her workbook service instructions she wrote: “Tell the truth about who I was.”

For more information, contact Larson at: randy@funeral101.com

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Call the writer at 636-0253.