Ana Aegi Ortiz-Clothiaux went through years of treatment for breast cancer, giving her time . to think about the end of life. One thing weighed on her mind. Where would her body go after death?
“It really bothered her,” recalls her sister Jeanne.
She offered to go with Ana to a green cemetery in Charlotteville where General Manager Stephanie Bonney showed them around.
“My sister had always wanted to have an oak tree planted over her, and Stephanie said, ‘Well you can be buried in a stand of trees.’ It was stunning and the birds were singing, and Stephanie said there was even a birding club that came in the early mornings to that very stand.”
Panorama Natural Burial Ground was once part of a cattle farm near the airport. Today, manager Stephanie Bonney says, it’s a model of environmental recovery.
“We spend a lot of time out here trying to improve the ecosystem. We have a lot of invasive species that we’re managing, and families are encouraged to put native plants over the grave sites. Everything going in the soil is meant to feed the soil, so we’re not doing any embalming, we’re not doing metal caskets or concrete burial vaults. Everything is meant to break down.”
She welcomes personal plans for funerals and puts people in touch with a Ruckersville Company – Compassionate Cremation and Natural Burial Services – where Ashleigh Coffey helps people arrange visitation at home.
“If someone wants to keep their loved one at home for a few days and have family and friends come in and pay their respects at home, they can certainly do that.”
She helped more than 200 families last year – charging $1,900 for cremation or $1,500 to help with a home funeral, file a death certificate and take the body to Panorama for burial. Her transportation partner is another small business – Angel’s Carriage. Robin Rakow and Gina Sensabaugh set out to assist local funeral directors.
“Gina and I rolled in last night around 3:15 from calls all through the night, so if I were getting up at A.M. to serve a family, I’d probably be a little grumpy.”
But their main calling is to comfort families in whatever way they can.
“I’ve had people ask me to play Christmas music, Elvis, Conway Twitty – drive a little extra – fast. ‘Dad liked to ride fast.’”
There was even a trip to the cemetery, accompanied by a cat.
“The back end of the van was open, and the cat came into the van with us and sat next to their person – which was really sweet.”
After Ana died, her family chose to keep her at home for several days. That was her wish – influenced by native American cultures.
“She was very close to some Muskogee Creek tribe members, and also she had friends who were Lakota," Jeanne Clothiaux explains. "Her belief was that in these four days there was a full and complete transmission of the soul to another realm.”
At the burial ground, Ana’s daughter, Dominique, created what’s known as a sound bath, using a gong and metallic bowls that vibrate.
Ana’s friend, musician Cory Blake, serenaded the mourners with a song he had written for her.
They shared prayers and memories before lowering Ana’s body into the ground. It was, Jeanne says, a beautiful, healing experience that changed her outlook on life and death.
