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The Lonely Funeral
In Amsterdam, every year, up to 20 people will die completely alone or anonymous. Without friends or family to draw up an appropriate service for their sendoff, in most places they could be given at best a quiet cremation or quick burial but in Amsterdam, there is a civil service that gives a respectful funeral to anyone without family or the money to hold one.
For over 20 years, civil servant Ger Frits has played music at the small, unattended funerals and laid flowers on the coffins. He was joined a few years ago by Amsterdam poet Frank Starik, who decided that these people also needed eulogies.
While city workers get their legal affairs in order, the duo of Frits and Starik give them a proper sendoff. While the duo has been working together since 2002, Frits himself as organized and attended more than 500 funerals in his many years working this service.
Read more:
Giving a Respectful Funeral to Lonely Strangers | The Telegraph
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