The Collyer Brothers: World Champion Hoarders
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“Like the rest of the world I knew of the Holt brothers through the newspapers which made them a sensation,” Marcia Davenport wrote. “Scarcely anybody has forgotten how Seymour Holt was found dead in that derelict house crammed from cellar to roof with one hundred seventy tons of hoarded rubbish; and how, after a twenty-two […]
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Depression and Heart Attacks: A Deadly Combination
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In August of 1991, author Larry McMurtry struck a Holstein cow while driving on a rural road near his Texas panhandle ranch. The cow walked away from the accident and the Lincoln town car was slightly damaged, but the event marked the inception of a lengthy healthcare crisis for McMurtry. The next morning McMurtry was […]
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Home or Hospital? Choosing a place to die.
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Most Americans would prefer to die at home. Surveys show that 90% of our population wants to pass away in their own beds. There was a time when the majority of deaths were homebased. In 1912, two-thirds of those passing succumbed there. “Throughout human history, and until very recently, most people died at home,” Dr. […]
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The Woman who Made the Yellow Ribbon an International Symbol
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“I just wanted to give people something constructive to do,” Penelope Laingen said about her decision to tie a yellow ribbon around an oak tree in the yard of her Bethesda, Maryland home. It was December of 1979, a month after her husband, Bruce, and 51 others had been taken hostage at the American Embassy […]
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Understanding Funerals, Cremations, and Grief in 2021
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When the CDC issued “Practical Covid-19 Guidance for Funeral Directors” in late February, 2020, it was apparent that the world had reached an inflection point. Seemingly overnight, “business as usual” became “how we do business today and maybe tomorrow.” Dr. David Berendes of the CDC said that the purpose of the protocols was to “encourage alternative […]
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