Controversies Over Crematories
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In “Strife After Death” (Nov. 13) you note that the nation’s first crematory was built in 1874. It was actually completed in 1876 and was designed and financed by my great-great-grandfather, Francis J. LeMoyne of Washington, Pa. As a medical doctor, he had long been concerned about water and soil contamination from the decomposition of buried corpses. His daughter and grandson later built the first crematory west of the Rockies, at Rosedale Cemetery in Los Angeles.
Robert W. Poindexter
Claremont
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Your piece, with its accompanying headline, was a masterpiece. Don’t let any grumps out there tell you otherwise. The European alternative methods to the current cremation crisis are positively ingenious. Laugh? Thought I’d die!
Elinor Lynch
Palm Desert
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