Jeff Manes: Pets also deserve dignified end

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Sally Burns, 60, of Hobart helps run Burns’ Pets Remembered Crematory & Cemetery in Crown Point. She is the wife of Jim Burns, a third-generation funeral director. The Burns family operates funeral homes in Crown Point and Hobart. | Photo provided

Updated: December 28, 2011 8:02AM

“... The syringe injected. I lean over to whisper goodbye; unexpectedly, his gray muzzle meets me halfway. I receive a lick on the cheek, like so many times before. Last kiss.

“A peculiar noise forces its way from my body, a noise one might render when trying not to sneeze in a library or church, only to worsen matters. I gnash my teeth so intensely they should hurt, but oddly, they don’t.

“Salt water drizzles down from my cheeks onto Shep’s coat. I use the back of my head and shoulder as a shield; hopefully, my wife hasn’t witnessed this — the dog licking my cheek — it would break her heart.

“She’s one of those animal lovers.”

— Jeff Manes,
January 2000

Sally Burns helps run Burns’ Pets Remembered Crematory & Cemetery in Crown Point.

Burns, 60, is the wife of Jim Burns, a third-generation funeral director. The Burns family operates funeral homes in Hobart and Crown Point.

Sally and Jim live in Hobart and have been married 34 years. They’ve raised three adult children, one of whom has become the fourth generation of Burns to become a licensed mortician.

Our interview took place at the Pets Remembered Crematory & Cemetery, behind the funeral home in Crown Point.

***

Maiden name?

“Schleicher; it’s a common German name,” she said.

Did you grow up in Northwest Indiana?

“I did. We lived in (the) Miller (neighborhood of Gary) until eighth grade; then, we moved to Merrillville. I graduated from Merrillville High School.”

Memories of Miller?

“Miller was the greatest place to grow up. I was in seventh grade; I had a boyfriend — you do that sort of thing. You hang out at the lake. My three sisters and I all hated to leave; we lived on Lake Shore Drive.”

Has Merrillville High changed through the years?

“Absolutely; now, it’s the ‘University of Merrillville.’ When I was there, it was all on one floor and we had about 360 people in our graduating class in 1969.”

Did you go to mortuary school?

“No, I’m not a licensed mortician or funeral director, but I do whatever I need to do. You wear a lot of different hats when your name is on the sign.”

College?

“Indiana State University; I have a teaching degree, believe it or not.”

How long have you and Jim lived in Hobart?

“We’ve been in our ‘starter home’ for the past 32 years.”

Sally, let’s switch to the family business. Wasn’t Burns Funeral Home the first in NWI to have a crematory?

“Yes, but, as time went on, people were coming up to us and saying, ‘C’mon, you guys, cremate my dog; nobody has to know.’ So, we established Pets Remembered in April 2007.”

Are humans and pets cremated in the same crematories?

“No, completely separate buildings. We have two crematories for the pets; one can accommodate 750 pounds of pets.

“We use that one basically when we pick up from the veterinarian. They’ll have people who will bring their dogs to them, and the pet owners don’t want the cremains back. We’ll put all those together and cremate them as a group.”

Then what?

“We’ll scatter the cremains in the pet cemetery. We also have a smaller crematory — up to 250 pounds.”

Do most people take home the ashes of their pets?

“Absolutely; that’s why they come to us. Their pets are their family. They’re not just a dog, cat, bird or even a mouse; we’ve had mice.”

Other unique pets you’ve cremated?

“Snakes, ferrets, macaws ... .”

Sally, let’s say a duck hunter comes to pick up Duke, his black lab. Are the dog’s remains stored in a generic container or some kind of fancy urn?

“They can purchase an urn from us, but a lot of people opt for a temporary tin — what we call our ‘paw print tin.’ It’s a keepsake with gray and black paw prints on it. Probably about half the people who have their pets cremated purchase an urn. We also make a clay paw print.”

What’s the largest animal to be cremated here?

“I’ve done a small horse.”

Sally, when I was a kid, the neighbor shot my dog. Caesar made it to our backyard, then collapsed. My dad had to finish him ... . My brother and I buried the Doberman-shepherd mix out in the woods behind the house.

“It’s illegal to bury a dog in your backyard. I’ve heard it from more than one vet, but I’ve never seen the ‘pet police’ out there arresting people for putting their dog in a hole. I have two dogs in my backyard.”

The pet cemetery?

“My husband was approached by a minister who didn’t want his dog cremated. He said: ‘C’mon, Burnsy, you’ve got all this property back here. Why don’t you put in a cemetery so I can bury my dog?’ Voila. We did. The pet cemetery has been a great comfort to so many people.”

Grave markers?

“We have one that we use a lot; it’s a granite marker that starts at $160.”

I’ve talked to a number of folks who grew up in the Great Depression; they’ve told me they didn’t even think of taking a pet to the vet when it was sick. The animal either made it or it didn’t. Those old-timers are amazed that people spend, say, $900 on a pet operation.

“I know people who have spent like $20,000 on a dog. But it’s not a dog; it’s their ‘child.’ We have a lot of pet parents who have no (human) children. Usually, when a pet dies, it happens in less than 20 years. That’s not a very old person; it’s like burying a child.”

Sally, there was an elderly music teacher from Lake Village who lived next door to my family; she never married. When her dog died, she wanted to have it buried in Lake Village Cemetery, but she was denied.

“(The other day), we buried two cats with a lady in her casket.”

***

Sally Burns was easy to talk to and very down to earth. I’m glad I met her and glad the Burns family had the vision to create a pet cemetery for pet “parents.”

As so often happens, the words of a song popped into my head during the drive home. It was a song by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band called “Mr. Bojangles.”

He danced for those at minstrel shows and county fairs throughout the South

He spoke through tears of 15 years how his dog and him traveled about

The dog up and died, he up and died

And after 20 years he still
grieves ... .