The National Funeral Directors Association has predicted that by 2035, nearly 80% of Americans will opt for cremation.When the first U.S. indoor cremation machine was opened in 1876 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the creator and operator, Francis LeMoyne, was severely criticized by the Catholic Church..
The pandemic has boosted revenues at cemeteries. But for the Locke family, which has run Pinelawn Memorial Park one of the largest in the U.S. for more than a century, raking in large sums from a nonprofit cemetery is a longstanding practice.