Doc & Jacques: Final Arrangements – Funeral Traditions and Choices

In this episode of the Doc & Jacques radio variety show, Dr. Gigi Reed MD and Jacques Kepner are joined by Mary Fox and Jake Boulay from Redwood Memorial Chapel to explore funeral planning. The conversation covers practical and legal considerations around funeral arrangements, including options for burial and cremation, the roles of funeral professionals, […]

Episode Transcript

(00:09):
Welcome.
You have now entered
the cosmic radio receptors of KCIW
one hundred point seven FM
in Brookings, Oregon.
Thank you so much for tuning into this
week's fantastic
program. I'm doctor Gigi, and my cohost is,
as always, Jacques Kepner.
How are you today, Jacques? I'm doing fine,

(00:31):
doctor. Greetings, everyone, and welcome to the Doc
and Jacques Radio Friday Show. Special thanks to
sound engineers, Tim Bozak,
Ray Simon. I think Michael Gorse is somewhere
out there, and oh, we got a bunch
of listeners on the listening to the show.
You're hearing this live syndicated show on KCIW
in Brookings, Oregon. And that said, the same
syndicated show will be

(00:51):
rebroadcast in exactly one week from now, each
and every Wednesday at 8AM, KZZH,
and ninety six point seven FM in Eureka,
Humboldt. And then a few hours later at
1PM on my old alma mater KFUG one
hundred and one point one FM in Crescent
City. So now you know. Doctor. Gigi and
I have your coast covered.
Okay. What medical marvels and good medicine and

(01:12):
health tips does my German medical doctor, patent
holding scientist, and university professor have for us
today on this week's edition of
doctor Gigi
or MD Gigi, pardon me.
We're gonna be talking about the kidneys. The
kidneys. Sweet. Your favorite. The kidneys. She loves
talking about kidneys. Favorite organs.

(01:34):
Oh. Because they are greatly underrated
in what they do for us.
So k. First of all, the kidneys are
two large
bean shaped organs located just barely below the
rib cage on the back on either side
of the spine.
Each kidney is roughly the size of a
large fist
and weighs about a quarter of a pound.

(01:56):
Oh, a kidney quarter pounder
in a butt bun. Yummy.
Not really.
Quarter pounder. Okay. Each kidney contains about 1,000,000
so called nephrons.
K. Which are the functional units, meaning that's
where the kidney function gets its function from.
They are responsible for getting the kidney's

(02:17):
magic done as said below coming up. Oh,
drum roll. So it includes the blood filtration,
reabsorption of certain substances, and secretion of others.
When you're born, you actually have four kidneys,
doctor. Mhmm. But as you age, two of
them become adult knees.

(02:37):
Specific kidney joke. You know, that's pretty good.
Alright. Each kidney filters about fifty
five hour gallons of blood daily Wow. Wow.
Wow. Producing about 1.5
quarts of urine. Oh, you're in trouble. So
so what gets filtered through these nephrons?
Get this. K. Basically, everything

(02:59):
contained in the blood
gets squozin through the nephrons except Squozin through?
That's German talk. Squeezed. Squozin, I think, is
real. It's correct. Except the blood cells and
large proteins. They don't fit through those pores.
After filtering everything through, the kidneys then go
ahead and get everything back of what we
do not want to lose. So water comes

(03:21):
back in, sugar comes back in, amino acids,
electrolytes,
such as sodium, potassium, calcium, phosphate,
etcetera. In some substances,
we don't we don't wanna get back, like
waste products such as
urea
Yeah. Yeah. From protein metabolism
or uric acid
from Okay. Flake acid metabolism

(03:44):
and drug byproducts. Wow. Are you aware, doctor,
that England has no kidney bank?
But it does have a Liverpool.
I'm trying to be so serious today. We
had some serious
fun times ahead.
Alright. Well, you kind of got me stopped
there in my element. So wait. Wait. Wait.

(04:05):
Wait. There's more. Okay. Tell us. The kidneys
also get rid of hydrogen ions, which is
h h plus as an acid, and reabsorb
bicarbonate,
which is negatively, it's a base thing,
to get our blood in a perfect pH
balance. So our blood is always around the
pH of 7.4.
Wow. I thought it was much lower than
that, but that's okay. The kidneys are also

(04:27):
the main blood pressure regulators. Wait. Stop. Yep.
Wait. Wait. Wait. They regulate
our blood pressure, you're telling me?
Yes. The long long distance the long term
blood pressure, there's always the heart. People think
The heart. It's done by the heart, which
is only a very short term regulator, like,
when we're working out, our blood pressure has
to go up.
But really, the long term, for example, but

(04:49):
the long term is done by the kidneys.
Oh, but
Didn't know that. They release the enzyme renin,
which activates the so called renin
angiotensin
aldosterone
system. Hey, doctor. I know it fits the
lung, but I mean that's Yeah. Important to
know. It controls it. And that's what controls
our blood pressure because it balances blood volume

(05:10):
and sodium and other electrolyte
levels in the kidneys. Okay. Very cool. Right?
Mouth as well. The kidneys are also part
of the endocrine system.
What is an endocrine system? Yeah. That's ridiculous.
They make hormones. The endocrine system makes hormones.
Okay. So the kidneys make erythropoietin
Not the which stimulates,

(05:31):
get this, the red blood cell production. I
know where that is in your bones. In
the bone marrow. Yeah. That's crazy.
They also make another hormone, calcitriol,
that
us lay people call vitamin g. D. Darn
it. Vitamin d is a hormone, believe it
or not. Really? And it maintains bone and

(05:52):
muscle health. Hey, doctor. If you had to
choose just one, just one body part that
had the ability to smell, would you
pick your nose?
Okay. I also have a fun fact. Okay.
Come on. Shake it with your best shot.
The yellow color in the urine

(06:12):
comes from a pigment called bilirubin.
The bilirubin is derived from a breakdown of
old red blood cells. Oh. Now this is
the fun fact. Listen. Kinda weird. Interesting
and fun. The bilirubin has to get altered
in the liver first to be excreted in
the urine.
If that's not the fun part. If the

(06:32):
liver is not working, the bilirubin gets excreted
in the feces instead,
which will then turn tan or yellowish
in color. And the urine will turn brown
Because the yellow is not there anymore. And
the doctor would know these kind of intros.
Is that cool though? She thinks that she
thinks that's cool. Okay, that's really, that is
pretty cool. Yeah. Okay, so if your bilirubin

(06:54):
is tan,
you know what? Then maybe you should talk
to your doctor. Right? Okay. The feces, but
alright. Okay. There you go. Hey, what kind
of texture are the kidneys, doctor? Are they
I was once told when I had kidney
cancer twenty four years ago
that they are like giant sponges
inside. Is that true?
So the kidneys are themselves very solid. They

(07:15):
have a capsule, so called capsule around it.
It's a dense,
hard organ. If you touch a kidney, it's
called a capsule.
It's firm to the touch, so it's not
spongy. However,
you're gonna be maybe talking about those nephrons.
They have
a glomerulus,
which is the actual sponge that is the

(07:36):
the the thing where that filters through it.
So it has little holes in it. It's
not spongy, but it has the holes where
the blood gets swollen through. Okay. I was
diagnosed with kidney cancer because I passed a
stone, and then they did the routine follow-up.
And that was very, very painful, that, kidney
stone. What are kidney stones?
If you don't mind

(07:57):
elaborating.
Kidney stones are usually a hard pebble.
Like Pebble. Pebble. Pebble. Yeah. Like masses that
form inside of the kidneys when, for example,
the urine has high levels
of oxalate, then you have the oxalate, stromes,
stromes.
So any of that stuff that can,

(08:18):
crystallize out,
that's what your kidney stones are. Okay. Usually,
so you can have the calcium oxalate, which
is found in meats.
The oxalate is found in meats. Yeah. Boom.
Calcium phosphate,
uric acid stones, struvite as in,
Mine were pretty small. Cystine. About the size
of a pea maybe. And he showed it

(08:40):
to me.
Like the doctor. P like the Like the
Like the P E A. Yeah. Not urine.
Trouble. So, yeah. They can range from the
size of a grain of sand or actually
size of a golf ball. Particularly, they're not
Wait a minute. Did you say golf ball?
They're not
round usually.
So Yeah. They are they have little because

(09:00):
they're crystal, so they're growing in all kinds
of,
like, stag horn
type. The struvite stones that look like stag
horns. Kinda Yeah. Like Brave Simons.
You know what I said? It's true.
Okay. But if you set a golf ball
size, I mean, seriously, that how would that
possibly that would be a hole in one.
Right? I mean,

(09:20):
it wouldn't cause the hole this if you
Yeah. So you you told me that you
thought it might kind of get squoos into
the skin or something. No. It hurts so
bad that I and and the doctor said
it's because it's it's not following a path.
Yeah. Well, it does. It has to follow
our path because otherwise, it won't come out.
If it stays there, then actually one has
to go do a lithotripsy

(09:41):
or something to destroy the kidney stones and
then pieces come out.
But if it does get passed, it has
to pass through wherever the pee goes. Right?
Right. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So it is so
it can be very painful. It can be
painful after you pass it because you have
irritated the walls. The for example, the urethral

(10:02):
walls quite a bit because they had to
stretch to get that stone passed through.
Okay. I walked into the barn, ordered a
pint of less.
The bartender asked me, what's less?
I don't know, I said, but doctor Gigi
specifically
told me to start drinking
less.
Okay.

(10:22):
What else? Is kidney cancer on the rise,
doc?
Well, kidney cancer rates have been going up
like all the other cancers, but all other
cancers really have gone up in a faster
rate. So even though it has gone up
less
drastically than other cancers.
So we're thinking maybe that imaging

(10:45):
pre like, you were diagnosed with imaging for
something not really related for cancer,
has made it less likely to die from
cancer, but
really, we detect it more or earlier earlier
stages Right. The cancer that is, but you
also detect the stones then faster.
Now risk factors
include for cancer now include smoking, believe it

(11:08):
or not, obesity,
and some other hereditary
conditions k. As for the cancer and the
stones. Other reasons
to not smoke if you smoke, Even if
you smoked a long time, it's always never
too late to start. Right. Yeah. Obesity, well,
we just gotta run more and keep ourselves
better shape and eat better in The United
States. Doctor, when you die, what part of

(11:29):
your body dies the very last? Which one?
The pupils in your eyes because they dilate.
Okay.
Alrighty.
Okay. Thank you for that entertaining,
description and talk about kidneys, your favorite organ
in the body. Alright. Isn't it fascinating
in this Halloween season that we're in that,

(11:52):
well, let me let me start this over
again. I've got I've got I've got chapters
one and two in this prologue. Okay. Because
it's an important prologue. Mhmm. First and foremost,
I have this disclaimer to make that when
we had today's originally scheduled, guest canceled just
one and a half weeks ago, I needed
to act on plan b.
And that happens from time to time and
book new guests on very short notice. That

(12:15):
said, it is completely
coincidental that they should appear on the show
during this Halloween week, and that's true. But
that got me thinking. So here is chapter
one of my prologue. Yeah. Isn't it fascinating
in this Halloween season that staged zombies and
skeletons crawl from graves and haunted cemeteries and
houses? The dead and dying are fully embraced

(12:37):
during this strange time of year.
It seems everyone is out for a good
scare.
Ghosts and monsters populate every other front yard,
and horror movies stalk the big screens.
Have you noticed that this season keeps growing
longer and longer each year?
Like September 1, when it was like back
to school, I noticed the first stuff in

(12:58):
this grocery store with ghosts Yeah. And big
bags of candy. Which is Right. Way early.
What I'm trying to say is the macabre
aspects of death isn't just accepted during this
time.
It's outspokenly
glorified during these cool, crisp fall days. Here's
a question for you. Why don't we give
candy skulls and fake eyes

(13:19):
and severed fingers and bloody spiders to one
another on
Valentine's Day.
Right?
Well, if we did, people would say how
crude and rude and how horrible such a
thing would be.
The reality is talking about death
during any other time of the year is
pretty much taboo.
People don't want to talk about it. And

(13:39):
if they do, it's in whispers.
Simply stated folks, they just tend to turn
away
and
walk away from anything related to death. How
many cocktails and dinner parties have you attended
where everyone's eagerly discussing the more visceral aspects
of death and dying? Oh, thank you. I
assure you, they are rare indeed.
Chapter two.

(14:01):
There are very few professions that require a
person to meet others at their most fragile
moment in that vulnerable time between death and
burial and beyond.
Two of these professionals that live in our
midst,
who laugh and shop and dine and commune
beside us join us in the KCIW
studio today to talk about

(14:23):
death.
As many of you know, Doctor. Gigi is
a co medical director and physician for hospice
in Northern California and Southern Oregon, and she
deals with the dying,
but not the dead.
Sure,
she has signed dozens of death certificates,
but the process and the ritual

(14:43):
of receiving the dead are what today's two
guests do best.
They spend their days not in avoidance of
death, but in humble dialogue with
it. They are stewards
of life's final passage.
They are guides through the often blinding fog
of loss.

(15:04):
In communities up and down our rugged coast,
people like Mary Fox
and Jake
Bolle? Bolle. Bolle. Bolle,
walk daily along that thin strip of sand
between the forest of life and the crashing
surf of death.
It takes a particular courage to stand and

(15:24):
walk that emotional strip between life and death
and, well, not look away.
They meet all types of peoples and families,
oftentimes in the deepest sorrow, and they gently
guide them through the mysteries and the rituals
of
death.
My florist in training experiences

(15:44):
a few years ago had me visiting funeral
homes in the Midwest every day, and that
gave me the humbling chance to observe the
dead in their silent encore
on the final decorated stage of life.
Funeral homes, I learned,
were places of clean transitions.
They bridge tears and sorrows with solace, approbation,

(16:05):
and always always remembrance, either good or bad.
And some compassionate
providers,
like Mary and Jake,
often make it the impossible seem
bearable
one
deep
breath at a time. So without any more
roughage from me, doctor Gigi and I wish
to extend a very warm warm salutation

(16:28):
to Mary and Jake. Welcome to the Doc
and Jacques Radio Variety Show, you two. Thank
you. Thank you. Yeah. Welcome. Thanks for joining
us. Gigi, lead off the questions for our
guest. Alright. We'll start with Mary. Where were
you born and raised?
Born in Southern California, in Alhambra.
Grew up in Northern California,
mostly Redding,

(16:48):
from Paradise up to Redding,
and went to college at Chico State. Chico
State? I did too. When it was
still Chico State, not Chico University, California, Chico.
Right. They had pioneer days back then. We
did. Yeah. They were fun. I remember the
party. What brought you here?
Actually Lovely area. We came, my husband and
I came to visit a friend who lived

(17:09):
here
over a Labor Day weekend, and the question
was posed, what would it take to get
us to move here?
And we said, a job and a place
to stay.
And before the weekend was over, we had
both.
Oh. Nice. So we packed up and moved
over here in the 1970.
Oh, wow. Woah. It's been a minute. Good

(17:31):
guess. Wow. Wow. Wow. Jake,
up to you now. Where were you born
and raised?
I was born and raised in Bend, Oregon.
Mhmm. And I went to school,
graduated
high school.
Then I took about a year off just
to figure out what I wanted to do.

(17:51):
And
then went ahead
and served an apprenticeship into a in a
mortuary. And then I, of course, graduated college
up in Portland, Oregon.
But, yeah, that's that's
my hometown. Ben, Oregon. You've seen the changes
in Bend, have you not? Right. It's so
on fire. Very yeah. Very much so. I

(18:12):
mean, I just went there a couple years
ago to visit family, and It's different. I
cannot believe how Totally different. Changed. And I
haven't been back in about ten years. So,
you mean, it was a little expected Wow.
For for the surprise. It's like 90,000. Yeah.
But I still know where everything is, though.
There you go. Cool.
Now what is your what are your respective
titles and positions, ladies first?

(18:33):
I guess technically, you would call me an
administrative
assistant.
I make phone calls. I book appointments. I
do data entry,
I greet people at the door and offer
them coffee and water and tea There you
go. Hand out hugs
and general flunk. Did you say hand out
hugs? Yeah. Hand out hugs. There you go.
You greeted us when we first walked in

(18:54):
and inquired about having you on the show.
A couple years ago, so this is very
good. Jake? I am the funeral director, and
the manager. I also have a license that
I carry as an embalmer as well. But
my general
duties is, you know, coordinating and making arrangements
with the families,

(19:15):
you know, just being on call twenty four
seven, responding to any calls that we get
in Curry County, whether it's hospice or, you
know, Curry County dispatch,
and, also preplanning
the actual funerals themselves,
preparation of the decedents. So, yeah, there's a
lot,
that's
involved with, you know, I guess

(19:37):
mortician would be the general title for all
of it. On call 20
every day? Every
day. Every day. Wow, doctor. Yes, no. You
don't have it so bad. Yeah. And we're
talking about just folks. Let me let me
put this in because it was my fault
for not introducing them correctly.
They are with Redwood Memorial Chapel here in
Brookings, Oregon, but
there is funeral chapels all over The United

(19:59):
States and up and down our coast for
sure. So Redwood Memorial Chapel,
go ahead, Gigi. Right. Would have been my
next question. What inspired you to get involved
with Redwood Memorial?
I didn't invite the job. I was working
at the local a local florist,

(20:20):
and the lady who started the Redwood Memorial
Chapel came to introduce herself.
And a couple of years down the road,
she came and spoke with my boss at
the florist and said,
I know the florist business is slowing down.
Could I borrow Mary part time?
And my boss said, Oh, of course. And
then she said, Maybe I should ask Mary.

(20:42):
That was 2,007,
and I have worked part time or full
time at the funeral home ever since. Wow.
So I didn't even apply for the job.
It was just handed to me. So you
when you were young, you were not thinking
about
that being a fantastic part. When I was
young, I was gonna be a nurse till
I discovered I passed out at the sight
of blood. And so my sister became the

(21:03):
nurse and I became a school teacher.
Oh, very cool. Till 2007,
that's when the plans changed. Well, the school
teacher thing went away when I had kids.
Oh, I And so I then I went
to work at the florist in 1994
just for something to do. Very nice. How
about you?
Well,

(21:23):
I was actually,
in the process of
getting my Washington,
mortician's license. Yeah. I I've been
licensed in Oregon for many years, but I
was working
on getting a license up into Washington.
And I was living up in Long Beach,
Washington
at the time
in 2017,

(21:44):
I believe.
And,
and so what happened was the guy the
the employer that I was currently working for
had encouraged me, just
constantly encouraging me to relocate and go back
to Oregon because
he said, Long Beach, Washington, you know, it's
not for a person like you. You're a
young man. You need to go out and

(22:05):
start a family. You need to go to
a place where,
you know, where
where there's just not a whole anything out
here for you. So he really encouraged me
to just Now, is Long Beach even smaller
than Brookgate? That's across the street. I
would say
Brookings is probably smaller than,
Long Beach, Washington. Wait a minute. Are we
talking about Long Beach right across the bridge

(22:25):
from Astoria? We're talking about the the Peninsula.
Right. So you're right. One end of the
state. Yeah. Very top end of the state.
And here you come all the way down
way down to the other end. Happening
place. Nice. Yep. Okay. Very cool. So, yeah.
Anyways, after
after constant
encouragement, you know, he wasn't like I mean,
he was just encouraging me, you know, Jake,

(22:46):
you you really need to get out of
here. This is just not a place for
a young guy like you. So anyways, I
I just went ahead and started applying
back in Oregon, various mortuaries,
just anywhere,
that was anywhere along along the coast because
I really love the coast.
And then so all of a sudden, Redwood
Memorial Chapel,
the Travis,

(23:06):
the owner at the time, had called me
up and said, Yeah, I'd like to interview
you. And then after the interview went well,
he just the next question was, when can
you start? Wow. When can you come down
here? So for you, you never had a
career change,
actually. Right? You were always wanting to be
a mortician. Right? Yeah. Yeah. After I graduated
high school,

(23:27):
after thinking about options and ideas,
originally, I was thinking about wanting to become
a surgeon or a doctor. Mhmm. But then,
the mortician
industry just I I just sort of fell
into it.
And
out of the blue one day, I just
thought what it would be like to work
in a mortuary.
And so I went in and applied for
an apprenticeship position, and I worked for about

(23:49):
a year. And there was a lot of
experience in that whole first year that I
was working. I mean, just things that I
just never thought I would expect.
And
then, yeah, and then here I am, you
know, that was like in 2002
when I first started my apprenticeship. Wow. And
I've been in the industry ever since. But
you did go to college. Yeah. What did
you study then? I studied in the,

(24:11):
it's it was a funeral service program in
Mel Good Community College. The system. I'm sorry.
Yeah. They had a funeral program, and I
served a two year program and and then
took my national boards and then applied to
the state Oregon board. So I I got
licensed in Oregon because I wanted to stay
in Oregon. I mean, my friends and family
were here. Yeah. Good. Good. Smart idea. So,
yeah.

(24:32):
When you were young, Mary, did you ever
think you'd be doing what you're doing today?
No. How about you, Jake? No. Maybe? No?
No. I had never thought Yeah. They have.
And isn't there a call I think University
of San Francisco, right? Mhmm. California has a
mortuary of science program. Yes. Yep. One of
the few in The United States. Yes. If
I'm not mistaken. Yeah. That's fascinating.

(24:52):
Is there any option to a funeral at
home? Let me say this different. Can people
make their own arrangements and bury their own
dead? Absolutely. You're kidding me. Absolutely. I did
not think that would be
possible. I mean, how often does it actually
happen? Oh, very, very rare. I mean, in
my twenty five years of experience, I've probably
dealt with maybe like one or two arrangements

(25:14):
like that, where the family did everything, or
they arranged to have other
party members be involved in taking care of
certain things. So can you bury grandma on
your backyard here in Oregon? It's legal. Yeah.
Absolutely. I know. I just heard today that
somebody did that. As long as as long
as it's okay with the owner of the
property, then
Better be yours. Yeah. Oh, it doesn't have
to be disclosed when you sell the Yes.

(25:36):
That is it is true. Yeah. From my
understanding, it has to be disclosed that this
is a location. This this is a grave
where human human remains are interred. And you
have to plan ahead a little bit because
there are some county things that have to
be done. Yes. Right? So you go to
the county registrar
county clerk's office and they provide you with
the packet of information.

(25:56):
You do need a doctor to sign the
death certificate
and you do need to plot the
place on the property, and that's done with
the assessor's office.
And then it does have to be disclosed
if the property is sold and there is
grave. Yeah. Okay. There is the issue. Yeah.
I had a friend that was buried. A
famous doctor was buried on his property, but
his son would not tell disclose where he

(26:16):
was buried on eighty eighty acres. Mhmm. And
it was a big hoop. This is in
Florence, Oregon not too long ago.
Hey, how are the dead moved?
Okay, so first, let's start off, they die
at home or rest home. Mhmm. What happens
next?
So what we do is,
from the moment we're moving the decedent from

(26:37):
the place of, you know, the place of
death,
we go ahead and we have
equipment that we use to transport the deceased
back to the funeral home with. So what
we generally do is we we have a
sheet, or a blanket that we wrap the
decedent up with. And then we and then
we move them onto a cot that we
have. And then we use that we just

(26:58):
transfer the cot with our inner van, and
we just, you know, transport the decedent back
that way.
And, you know, it's very circumstantial because sometimes
people could be either deceased in their bed,
they might be on the floor.
I mean, you just never know
where they might be. And so we are
prepared for that. We have equipment that we

(27:18):
use for those kinds of circumstances
if they're not deceased in the bed, that
sort of thing. Wow. So that you don't
have a body bag? You have Oh, yeah.
We have body bags. We have body bags?
Oh, yeah. For for for the real, you
know, difficult, you know,
cases that we deal with, yeah. And if
somebody wanted honestly, I knew a woman who
requested that they take her out in a
pink body bag Mhmm. In South Carolina. I'm

(27:41):
with this woman and supposedly
they did that. Mhmm. They were able to
she told them long enough to advance. Mhmm.
Now that is pretty wild. Wow. Okay. How
are they
if you if you,
if you get a body here and they
need to be flown or taken to Florida.
Missouri or Florida.
They're they just put them on planes or

(28:01):
they're special trucks or It has to be
a known shipping,
airport.
So,
it not any you can't just go to
any airport in the state of Oregon. I
mean, it has to be in what's called
a known shipping.
So for example, I mean, if somebody needed
to be shipped out of state, they we
would have to transport them to the Portland
Airport because the airports up there are listed

(28:24):
as known shippers.
So unfortunately, we can't go to Medford or
we can't go to another small airport to
Wow. To have deceased.
And, so so that's the the important thing.
Yeah. They have to be a known shipper.
And then,
the the the whether it's a casket or
if it's just the deceased
themselves,

(28:45):
we have a special container that they're transported
with. So if the deceased is in a
casket, for example, the casket would be placed
inside of what's called an air tray. And
casket, then they're just put into a special
kind of combo unit that's, you know, just,

(29:07):
you know, requested
container for shipping with the air with the
airport. Yeah. Does that matter what the people
are dying from or what they if it's
like an infectious disease, does that make a
difference?
It does make a difference.
Now if bodies are, shipped out of state,
we always have to have them embalmed.

(29:27):
And Oh. That's because of the state requirement
that we have,
that so if if if a person is
placed in, you know, a refrigeration
holding facility Mhmm. And they they're taken out
of that facility
prior to the disposition, whether it's burial or
cremation.
They they can only stay out for a
period of six hours.

(29:47):
And then after that sixth hour, the the
the remains have to be either placed back
in refrigeration
or carry out with the the disposition, whether
it's burial or cremation.
So that's why we have to have the
body embalmed. And that's why I explained to
the families that that is why it's a
requirement.
Generally, embalming is only required. I recommend it
if it's either If the body is being

(30:09):
shipped out of state
or if families are saying that they're planning
on a viewing or visitation, but it's not
gonna be for a few weeks out because
maybe they're waiting on family and friends to
come into town for, you know, for their
service. Do you have refrigerated refrigerated
units there? At Yeah. I don't we don't
just automatically embalm everybody that's brought into our

(30:29):
care. We have a refrigeration
holding facility,
which is required by law that we have
to keep them,
you know, prior to the Oh, okay. We
got a break right here real quick, folks,
because time flies when we're having fun. It's
already that mid break time here on Doc
and Jacques Live Radio Show proudly broadcasting from
the KCIW one hundred point seven FM Studios
in lovely coastal Brookings, Oregon Oregon and spread

(30:52):
up and down the coast. The list of
major sponsors for our community radio station are
Advanced Airlines, flying in and out of nearby
Crescent City to Oakland and LA seven days
a week, Michelle Buford. Hello, Michelle. And our
own vibrant local Curry County Chamber of Commerce,
Nick and Lisa Rail, and the PPA or
the Partnership for the Performing Arts. And lastly,
my dear co host doctor Gigi Reed, MD,

(31:13):
and yours truly is Jacques Kapner on behalf
of KCIW.
Thanks to all of you. Sorry for running
a little late, and apologies to the, engineering
crew in the booth next to us.
I'm fascinated by fascinating. Right. How fascinating,
it is. Gigi, you you jump ahead and
ask them that next time The question about
what the difference is. What's a corner? You

(31:34):
ask him those questions. I think this is
gonna be really interesting.
Okay.
So I'm gonna ask what he tells me
to ask. What's a corner? Oh, I'm getting
so much.
Tell me what to have. Right here. Yeah.
Okay. So what is a coroner?
Well, a coroner is somebody that takes care
of,
investigating
the cause of what the deceased passed away

(31:57):
from.
Medical examiner is a physician,
a doctor, but a coroner
is an elected official
that is responsible for investigating
the cause of death. So is that only
in Oregon and California or is that everywhere
in the states?
In any state? In my understanding, it's anywhere
in the state. Because it Yeah. But Oregon

(32:19):
does not have a coroner system.
Or Oregon is a medical examiner system. Oh,
that's right. And California is coroner.
Okay. So a coroner is
a private individual,
and
they may or may not have a medical
background.
Mhmm. But if a medical examiner is a
physician,

(32:40):
doctor.
So a coroner who has to possibly investigate
the death of
why a person died,
the the cause of it,
without a medical
degree, how can that be? I mean, is
that it's not an anatomist or an admin?
They would look at medical records and law
enforcement reports

(33:01):
and request things like toxicology.
Okay. So that's for sleuthing
Yeah. Only. It's not a normal
investigation. Well, so what is a mortician then?
Yeah. What's mortician? So the mortician's,
responsibility
is for
caring for the deceased and the surviving family
members,
and arranging for the disposition.

(33:22):
So we don't we don't investigate the causes
like a coroner does. We just take care
of the decedent and the surviving family members.
Obviously, it's more about the surviving family members
because there's only so much that can be
done Right. Deceased body. But, yeah, that's the
that's the difference between the mortician and coroner.
Wow. So are there still autopsies performed

(33:44):
for unknown causes or anybody can ask for
an autopsy? Oh, yeah. Anybody. Yeah. If a
family can arrange to have an autopsy, even
if the medical examiner or the coroner deems
it unnecessary,
usually, they have a background with medical record
information and,
you know, but, yeah. If the family wants
to still arrange a private autopsy, they can

(34:06):
they can legally do that. They'd have to
pay for it. Yeah. Oh, I see. Okay.
And from my understanding, it's it's pretty expensive.
Like Oh, well, yeah.
Now you're also an embalmer,
and you're licensed to do that. Mhmm. Is
that can you can you work in any
state once again? It's because it's the same
Yeah. I can I I can go ahead
and,

(34:28):
reinstate, you know, if I wanted to practice
in another, you know, like in Cali Oh,
you have to ask for one? Yeah. I
actually, let me back up. I'm sorry. I
actually have an embalmer's license in California and
in Oregon.
So if I wanted to practice embalming in
like another state like Idaho or Yeah, yeah.
Washington, then I would have to reinstate my
license with their Okay. Board and everything.

(34:50):
Okay. But yeah,
I took a national exam
when I graduated high school. So it made
it so if I wanted to relocate to
another state,
it would be much easier for me to,
you know, just reinstate my license rather than
to have to go to school and everything
all over again. So your embalming is hands
on. Yeah. That's where you're physically

(35:11):
either draining
the body of Preservation. Preservation.
Yeah. I mean, purposes, which has been around
forever. Oh, yeah. Forever and ever. Yeah. Yep.
Mummies. Yep. Since the ancient Egypt. Yeah.
Is every mortician
an embalmer then? Or A mortician is more
like a funeral director and an embalmer
where,
you know, that's the term for mortician. That's

(35:34):
usually
somebody who carries both of those licenses. So,
I mean, you could still be a funeral
director and call yourself a mortician, sure. But
usually though, if you're licensed as an embalmer
and a funeral director, that's the term for
mortician. Oh. The full term. Yeah. Wow. How
about AI? Has AI had any impact on
the funeral home business? How about you, Mary?

(35:54):
Any anything we were talking about? About that.
Yeah.
Yes and no. I get a lot of
ads in my email from people who want
to hook me up with some AI program
to write our obituaries.
To be really honest, an obituary is a
very personal thing. And
my preference would be for the family to

(36:15):
write it. And if they need a little
help with,
grammar and spelling and spell check and all
of that, then have someone do it. But,
I'm surprised it's not always the families who
do it yet, actually.
So that's not the norm? No. Well,
yes and no. Because I get a lot
of people who go, if I give you
a list of things, will you write the

(36:36):
obituary for me?
It's like, yeah, but I didn't know the
person very well. I would much rather that
the family would write it, and then if
we need to kind of put things together
in a little more
a little better flow,
yeah, that's helpful. But AI,
not really
other than filling out a form and sending

(36:57):
it in, and that's not really AI. That's
just Right. Formulary. They they have AI mechanical
wombs now that they're developing in Oh, myself.
China where they're growing basically, growing a baby
in a perfect womb setting.
There's no threat of AI robots taking over
your job as a as an embalmer,
Jake, or is
there just Yeah. It's something that's always gonna

(37:18):
be a need. Yeah.
There's always gonna be somebody that'll need to
do it. And I
look at the idea of
if they had robots, you know, to help
go out on
removals and help living, you know, or moving
people that are really, really heavy or, you
know, I mean because, you know, I mean,
that's a that's a physical,
you know, work hazard, you know, a possible

(37:40):
work hazard. I mean, lifting with your back
and, you know Right. Yeah. I mean, there's
a lot of work involved in Wow. You
have to be strong and physically fit to
do that kind of thing. So Yeah. What
what direction is it? Is it tending to
the funerary arts? Is it continuing
pretty much in the old established way where
they're gonna come in? They're if I'm talking
about full body, not a cremation. We'll get

(38:01):
into cremation in just a moment. Mhmm. So
they come in and they want the full
the full montage. They want to get,
they wanna have the body embalmed and placed
in a casket and placed
in six feet under. We'll get to that
too. Mhmm. That's the traditional. Is there any
changes on that going any direction or is
that pretty much the steadfast way? From my
understanding and based on a lot of experience

(38:23):
that I've had with other directors who have
been
so much old school, if you will,
that's really,
really where
I was trained and learned from because
that's really meaningful. I mean,
they're not treating family members like they're just
some number.
It's very personal,
meaningful connection that you're having with the family

(38:46):
by just, you know, keeping it simple with
them, to doing exactly what they what their
wishes are and what their request is.
And if they have any
need any guidance or direction,
that's our responsibility to help them out with
that. And Now, Mary, when when people come
in and
they tell you that somebody died Mhmm. And
and so, do they sometimes ask you what

(39:08):
to do? What would you do? Or do
they do they usually know this is what
I want?
Most of them know what they want. Yeah.
Their occasional person will say, well, if this
was your mom, what would you do? And
I try to be very honest with them
that based on my upbringing, this is what
I would have done if it were my
choice.
But
you I turn right around and say, but

(39:29):
this is not my mom. This is yours.
And this really needs to be
what you want to do and what you
think your mom would have wanted.
Yeah. Because it's So the facilities here at
Redwood Memorial Chapel have what? Refrigerator? You have
refrigerated units there? Yep. You have the what
do I what I've always seen when I've
been to a mortuary, they have the slab
where the bodies are put out and embalmed.

(39:51):
Mhmm. You have that. Yeah. It's a preparation
room. Yep. And then when we visited last
year, a year and a half ago, we
we went into your showroom Mhmm. Which shows
Caskets. The kind of woods and the caskets,
and it was fascinating to see this. And
it's really a full
a full program that you're kind of investing
in. Let's pull back. What percentage of people

(40:11):
are getting cremations, either one of you, these
days? Probably ninety five Wow. Ninety eight percent
cremation. Yeah. Live there. Just a direct cremation.
Very much.
Why?
Finances? Finances
is a lot of it.
Just a trend away from family connections.
There are more and more families that really

(40:31):
have no connections with another generation
or where you have grandchildren
that are burying grandparents and you're missing a
generation in between.
So I think a lot of it has
to do with the fragmentation of families.
Now do the ashes have to be picked
up by somebody?
Generally by somebody. Yeah. Or you mail them

(40:52):
to a cemetery.
Yeah. And so you can do that. But
generally, it's a person who comes in and
and receives the remains.
95%
cremation. Do you do cremations?
Equipment more? Yep. We have two crematories.
We have one for for pets. We because
we also take care of pets.
And then obviously, the, yeah, the other standard

(41:13):
crematory.
What is the cost of a standard
cremation without,
okay. This is what's the baseline approximately?
I would say $20.85.
That's grand total. Under 3,000. Yeah. Yeah. And
then it could go up depending on how
fancy of a vase may be or Or
how many death certificates are requested.
Certificates are requested.

(41:34):
Yeah.
Those are usually the only two factors in
a in a in a cremation arrangement. So
Or if they wanted let's say that they
wanted to have a celebration of life or
a memorial service, but they didn't want us
involved in the service,
But they wanted us to help them make
the little handouts.
Wait, those are options.
So you have an attached chapel too. Yes.
That is correct. Where the public can actually

(41:55):
come in and have their final say. Absolutely.
Yeah. They're celebrating the life of mom or
dad or whatever Yeah. Who it whoever it
is. So all 95%
cremations.
Wow.
What's the,
what's what's
versus what a full body
burial Casket. Gonna be? It used to be
when I would it was where it was

(42:15):
like start at 15,000.
Now it's like, what's the range on a
full body casket? And that's depends. It really
kind of depends on how
how fancy a casket you want.
I mean, we can
and it depends on the cemetery costs.
Right. So you're paying for a plot. You're
paying for the plot being open and closed.
You're paying for a headstone.

(42:37):
You're probably, depending on the area, looking at
3,000 to 5,000 at a very minimum in
a smaller community. Are we talking about just
the Just the cemetery. Just the plumbing. Then
you're looking at
the the basic things that we do plus
the cost of a casket.
So another 3,000 to 5,000
depending on how fancy a casket you want.

(42:58):
And so
you could start and probably do it at
$5,000 or $6,000
or you can go to $20,000
It just depends on how much money you
wanna spend on it. It was my brother
when he would Yeah. His was $15,000
Yeah. And it was pretty fancy. He had
a perma seal casket. Yeah.
And also the cost
of the headstone, that can also be affected.

(43:18):
Yeah. Yeah. Due to it, I mean, that's
right. And because granite is often imported now
Right. Yes. You're right. Then those prices are
going up. Like, I mean, we used to
get
the full thing, the headstone and the installation
and the concrete and everything for about
$1,100,
and now most of them are 15 to
1,800.
Do you know anything about a green
burial? What's a green burial? I hear this

(43:40):
more and more. What's what's that? Everything is
biodegradable.
Yep. There is nothing Just like our bodies.
Yeah. Everything everything involved in a green burial,
it's it's all biodegradable.
So casket,
liner,
you know, anything that the deceased has interred
in. And I've even done a few green
burials,
in the last
seven years since I've been here.

(44:01):
And, you know, the the you know, it
just can go as very minimum as just
having the body wrapped up in a biodegradable
shroud and then just placed directly into the
grave. Mhmm. You know? Is it still a
churchyard grave or is it behind the house
grave type thing where you have the green
burial? Yeah. Certain
well, most cemeteries have a certain section that's

(44:22):
only for green burial.
And, and so yeah. And then, of course,
if the family wanted to have it on
private property, if they want green burial, that's
optional
too. Now should people plan ahead and purchase
their funeral packs? Absolutely.
I would I I couldn't stress that enough
with anybody that brought brings that topic up
with me because
number one, you have everything taken care of

(44:43):
ahead of time. And number two, when the
time comes,
there's not gonna be any financial burden on
anybody.
Everything's been paid for. Everything's been taken care
of. So I can't stress it enough. If
anybody wants to pre plan or talking about
pre planning, I'd say go ahead and do
it because you're doing it for the sake
of your loved ones, your surviving loved ones,

(45:05):
that it's all taken care of. And then
they don't have
to pay money out of their pocket to
take care of the finances.
And it can be very stressful for certain
people. Oh, definitely.
Yeah. Wow. So they could come in. It's
free of charge for them to come in
and talk with you. Absolutely. Yeah.
Everybody, you you you gotta see Mary. I
mean, she's so sweet,

(45:25):
and so accommodating and so humble. And it's
just it would be really it was so
nice when we walked in. Didn't know quite
quite what we were gonna do when we
were asking about getting them on the show
a couple years ago, and she met us.
And she you really you put everybody at
ease right away. You've had that
interaction with people so much because grieving is

(45:45):
a huge, huge part Yep. Of, the dying
process. Right? So, boy, what an aspect. I
I I bow before you. Is there is
there some
surprising or heartwarming
part of being work or being a worker
at Redwood Memorial
Chapel? Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, even from day
one, even in going working in the industry

(46:08):
many years ago,
I always get the the compliments,
the feedback, you know, the hugs, you know,
from family members, the the thank you, the
appreciation.
See,
I'm not in it for the I'm not
in this industry for, you know, money or
anything like that. I'm in it for the
the compassion that I bring to the people
Mhmm. When they're going through a really difficult

(46:28):
time, and then they're saying back to me,
thank you for everything you're you've done. That's
that's what it's all about for me, honestly.
And but I that's why I've been in
the industry
still, I mean, and and continue to never
stop learning. So, yeah. Wow. I think that's
my that's the one thing that I that
keeps me in the industry

(46:48):
is getting that that feedback from the Are
you doing the actual cremations too? So you're
the are you the person that Oh, I
I I do Fire update. Yeah. I I
have an associate that helps me, but, yeah,
I do it all. I mean, I take
care of it all. And, I mean, in
you know, I as far as I'm concerned,
it's based on how I was taught. You
know, I remember years ago, a guy used

(47:09):
to say to me, Jake, if you can
treat everybody as if they were a member
of your own family Right on. You shouldn't
you you should be okay.
And I I have to admit, I've taken
care of a lot of families that are
not happy with me.
And that's okay. I mean, I'm I'm I
don't take that personal. But, you know, it's
just I just have to remind myself that

(47:30):
I can't please everybody. And it is very
stressful.
And for, you know,
knowing that you didn't make somebody's day or
you're getting threatened with lawsuit or, you know,
whatever. Wow. It's not you know, it's difficult.
But I I try to shake that off.
At the end of the day, it's all
shakes out. Exactly. Exactly. And and then that's
a good balance that we have because most

(47:51):
of the time, most of the families that
we work with are always expressing gratitude and
thanks
versus the ones that are not happy to
see us.
And and again, I mean, Mary and I
have dealt with a lot of families that,
you know, we could do anything and everything,
but we just couldn't satisfy their Humility
reigns.
And it's they're in the situation that's not

(48:13):
them they're not themselves. Exactly. They're grieving. They're
going through a very different
process. And I have to know and remind
myself that they don't they're not thinking about
Right. Yeah. You know, I mean, it's don't
take it personal. I mean, they're grieving. They're
going through a very difficult time. Chi Chi
Chi Chi and I both lost partners Yeah.
And our adult lives,
not too terribly long ago and the grieving
process is so very, very real. And we

(48:35):
live in an older community here. Yeah. And
along the coast, a lot of retirees Yes.
Are getting used to this. Yes. Is there
any way you could, you're not supposed to
spread your own ashes?
Don't I I've heard recently that you can't
throw your can't go get out of Sport
Haven Beach. Yes. You can. Oh, you can?
And spread your the ashes okay? Absolutely.
California has very strict rules and you have
to get permits. But,

(48:57):
Oregon,
the rule is you can inter the I
mean, you can scatter the ashes on the
beach. You can scatter them in the woods.
Don't make a big show of it and
offend somebody,
and don't put them all in one spot.
Because if you put them all in one
spot, it's now a grave.
But if you're scattering
them on the beach or in the river
fasten away. Or in the woods, then it's

(49:19):
acceptable.
Just don't go out and on a windy
day go,
here you go, grandma, and
then it's blowing in the wind in somebody
else's face.
Yeah.
Not, what's the average how
how many is it that remains? A couple
pounds? Five pounds or or at? Seven six
to seven. Yeah. Wow. Wow. Just depends on

(49:39):
the bone structure of the individual.
Big boned. And so, again, I wanna come
back one last thing. We're gonna we're gonna
feather we have about five minutes here at
least.
Going back to preplanning,
if someone wants to come in preplan, they
wanna just discuss the options. It's a good
time Mhmm. Earlier the better. Sure. Mhmm. Before
you're sick, whatnot, is there any option where

(49:59):
you have payment plans where you say, okay,
I I I when I die, I wanna
be buried this way and it's gonna cost
me 5,000. Here's 5,000 now. Will that rate
ever go up? Do people do that? Are
there those options? Is there payment plans? So
when you do a preplan and you pay
for it in advance, what you're doing is
making a contract between yourself and the funeral
home
that for

(50:20):
the money that you've put down
and the interest that it gains, that they
will provide those services for you at no
additional cost. So five years, six years, ten
years will go by, and it's still gonna
be the same price, whatever you paid. And
we have,
plans at the funeral home that were done
back when I came in 2007
that somebody hasn't cashed in yet, so they're

(50:42):
still alive. Wow. How cool. And so at
whatever the price was then,
that's what
they'll pay for that. Now if they come
along and the family says, oh, but I
need another half dozen death certificates,
that's on them. They'll have to buy those
extra certificates. How about how about the graves,
site itself? That's a one time payment. Right?
Yes. Well, that's what the church, though. Right?

(51:03):
There was the cemetery here at WJ Ward.
You buy the plot. Yeah. It doesn't go
through you though. Right? No. It goes through
the cemetery. Yeah. So one time shot usually.
Yeah. They pay for the plot and that
covers the plot and the maintenance of the
cemetery. Forever and ever. Yeah. So our supposedly
Perpetual.
Perpetual.
And that might cost anywhere between 3,010 thousand.

(51:24):
I don't know. I'm just throwing out numbers
here. Yeah. Well, I think Yeah. W. J.
Ward has
different prices for,
for for residents that have lived here
for a very long time versus,
residents that had just moved into Curry County.
Okay. So, you know, I I think it's
yeah. There's a resident and a non resident.
Yeah. Yeah. Like a discount that yeah. I

(51:46):
think Where the residents pay less because we
pay taxes to the cemetery district. Wait. There's
no taxes at Oregon. Shoot.
I know. Darn.
Are you a member of the Chamber of
Commerce here? No. We are not.
Alright. Well then Well, that would be it
would be kind of yeah. Open house. Come
on in. And although it's beautiful, when you

(52:06):
walk into Redwood Memorial Chapel, we were just
like, it's upbeat. It's not drab. It's Great.
It's light, bright,
happy. You're there. The smiling faces are around
Coffee right around the corner. A big hello
or a coffee or beverage.
Turn in and talk to us. Friendly faces.
Yeah. Totally, totally cool. And I'm glad we
got to talk with you this time. Where
are you located? How can people get a

(52:27):
hold of you
behind Fred Meyer?
Address is 1020 Fifield Street,
Mill Beach, Fifield,
F I F I E L D. Okay.
And if you come around behind Fred Meyer
on Mill Beach Road, Fifield, t's off of
that. We're the second building on the highway
side. Yeah. We're just right next door to
a little white doctor's office. It's like a

(52:48):
Anderson
Chiropractic, and there's like a little yoga studio
on the north side of that building.
And and our building is a dark blue
grayish building that has a sign redwood Do
you park right in front of it? Yeah.
Yeah. And we pull up to the front
of there's parking for five or six cars
there. Mhmm.
What's your phone number that people 5 our
phone number is 541
Okay. 469-9112.

(53:12):
That is (541)
469-9112.
That is correct. And that's Yeah. And what
about a website? Yeah.
Www.redwoodmemorial.net.
Okay. N e t.
That's right. I looked that one up. There's
a long one to do.dotnet.
Mhmm. And are you on social,

(53:32):
any social? I mean, Facebook or I believe
that a prior owner had it set up
for Facebook.
I have not, and I don't think his
is still active.
K. Is there a dying season?
Is there a time a year that more
people pass? Yes.
More around the holidays,
November, December

(53:53):
Wow. The number of January. They're they are
anticipating the holiday coming and their body just
won't hold out or
they've made it through the holiday and now
they're done and they've celebrated with their family
and they're over. It's kind of like a
Right. I know in Oregon, now California has
have
the euthanasia pill. Right, doc? I mean In

(54:13):
Oregon, the right to die. The right to
die. Is that death death with dignity? Death
with dignity.
Exactly what it is. Yeah. Mhmm. And that
must be,
that's a little bit different.
But with 95%
cremations,
this is just
amazing. I am, I'm I I think when
I last we last talked to you, it
was, like, 75%
or

(54:34):
fifteen years ago with my I'm gone on
to 20 And it was, like,
half and half. In the Midwest, I think
it's a little bit lower, I think. Yeah.
I was surprised too because, I remember last
time I said in England, a 100% is
cremation and then
we were surprised
that it wasn't that high here. So yeah.
Yeah. We must have been snoozing. It is.
Really? Okay. We gotta ask you this, this

(54:55):
question. It'll be the final question we ask
a lot of our guests. What do you
want your tombstone to say regardless if you
have a regardless if you have a, are
cremated or not. What would your tombstone say,
Mary? I want mine to say what my
kids chose for my email, which is mom
to all.
Wow. Yes. I was a boy scout leader
for twenty years, and I was the mama

(55:16):
to a whole bunch of Cub Scouts and
Boy Scouts. I love that. Some people just
don't answer this question, but mom to Wallace.
Sweet. How about you, Jake? It was so
funny because I was reading that, on the
list here, and I was thinking of something
very clever the other night. And for you
can't remember. I can't I just can't remember
what it was, but I think it I
think it had something to do with, like,

(55:36):
maybe, like,
something to do with, like Dad for all.
Finally asleep, you know? Finally
asleep. Finally sleeping. Gets to gets to rest
now. You know? He
can he can finally rest now. Wow. What
you that we're doing in our community is
phenomenal. People like you are all over this
this nation and all over the world. They're
doing an ancient practice that you are the
stewards

(55:57):
of of the dead and through practice of
the rituals that bring people full circle. So
thank you both for coming. For coming here.
Once a year, get you talking about this
stuff and, again, the coincidental because it's Halloween.
Honestly,
that is not that's not the case. Alright.
Thanks again, Mary and Jake, for coming on
the Doc and Jacques show. Thank you. Alright,

(56:18):
Doc. What do you have time for? Fun
time corner. Fun time corner. What does that
mean? You mean You
have jokes that people please laugh at? I
have some quotes. Okay. What do you got?
Your time is limited, so don't waste it
living
don't waste it living someone else's life. Okay.
That's pretty cool. Give us another one.
The only impossible journey is the one you

(56:40):
never begin.
Yes.
Wow.
Okay.
I told doctor Gigi recently that I I
keep thinking that I'm God. Mhmm. She asked
me how long I'd been feeling this way.
Well, obviously, since I created the sun, the
moon, and the stars.
Okay. What do you got? Believe you can
and you're halfway there. Believe you can and

(57:03):
you're halfway there. That's a good one. I
told doctor Gigi that I was losing my
memory. She asked me, when did it start?
I said, when and what start?
How do you know your doctor is a
fake? How? Because they have good handwriting?
Go the extra mile. It's never crowded.

(57:24):
Go the extra mile. It's oh, yeah. Okay.
I got one. I'm gonna throw it out
there. What's the worst thing to do after
a funeral? What? Wake up.
You're not getting good laughs here. It was
something you need.
I like that one. I thought that was
Doctor Gigi asked me to choose one body
part that I if I could lose, what
would that would make me a better person?

(57:45):
One one body part that I could lose
that would make me a better person. I
said, my spine because it's holding me back.
Okay. One more. Come on.
What's the difference between a wedding and a
funeral? What? Well, there's one less drunk at
a funeral.
Okay.
Okay. I think we are done. Yes. We

(58:06):
are sewed in. Thanks again, Jake and Mary
for coming on the show. Really, really interested.
You will then. You have been listening, everyone,
to the Doc and Chuck Show on KCOW
one hundred point seven FM in Brookings, Oregon.
We hope you have enjoyed our show as
much as we have learning about the Redwood
Memorial Chapel
Yeah. With Mary and Jake. Yes. Peace and

(58:27):
prosperity, everybody. And you gentlemen in the engineers
booth, thank you so much. And Linda out
there listening for this. And Jaden I forgot
Jaden is listening today. No. So many others.
Mail us if you know of an interesting,
talented person that could be on the show
at [e-mail].
Welcome,
Tony Durso right now on
KCIW

(58:49):
one hundred point seven FM. Thanks again, folks.