Austin’s Modern Mortician Looks to Aquamation as a Sustainable Method for Funerals
Melissa Unfred, also known as the Modern Mortician, got her start in death care at 17 after working at a funeral home for a summer. She works to educate people on their rights in death, offer guidance and provides sustainable alternatives to traditional funeral practices.
She started an Instagram page @mod_mortician where she posted about death care and answered questions her followers had about funerals and death. Her page quickly grew and she decided to branch out and provide her own funeral care services and has a dual license as an embalmer and funeral director. She prefers the title “mortician” to encompass both of her job titles.
Unfred is accompanied by her sidekick, Kermit, who is Texas’ first certified therapy dog in funeral service. He provides comfort to grieving families and Unfred while working. She has also taken Kermit to memorial services like the Parkland High School Massacre and sees that he senses death and provides people comfort.
“Embalming is not required by law,” says Unfred. Instead of pumping bodies full of chemicals, she offers eco-friendly ways of laying the dead to rest like greener flame cremation, natural burials, and aquamation.
Aquamation is the term used for water cremation which involves submerging the body in a solution of 95% water and 5% alkali solution with elevated heat. This process replicates the effect of natural decomposition and leaves behind large bone fragments that are pulverized and placed into a biodegradable urn. This process uses 90% less energy and doesn’t release any harmful toxins into the atmosphere compared to flame cremation.
“Families often feel like they’re supposed to embalm the bodies because that’s what has been done traditionally,” says Unfred. She strives to provide services where families can make educated choices and feel comfortable in a troubling time.
Nani Udall is also entering the funeral industry and works with Unfred to learn about death care. She is motivated by her experiences with death in her family and wants to be the support she wanted when she was grieving. Udall works to give people the funerals that represent their personalities in unique ways and hopes to make funerals more about celebrating life than grieving death.
While aquamation is eco-friendly and preferred by Unfred and Udall, it is still illegal in Texas. House Bill 773 was introduced on January 11, 2019, and aims to legalize aquamation but has not yet been passed, according to Legiscan.
“To legalize it in the state of Texas, we have to change the definition of cremation to include water,” says Unfred. As of now, she ships bodies to St. Louis, Missouri to be aquamated.
Unfred and others in the funeral industry, are still working to pass legislation to provide aquamation to Texans.
For more information, see Unfred’s website themodernmortician.com.
