Rataj-Berard
Gene Delcourt at work drilling holes for wood dowels. The caskets contain no metal.
Gene Delcourt says his wooden caskets are for “anybody who wants to be green.”
Delcourt, 57, will retire this summer from his job teaching social studies at Malcolm Shabazz City High School. That opens the door for him to focus his attention on Humble Crossings, his eco-friendly casket business.
It’s a calling that weaves together his long experience as a woodworker and his exposure to Native American practices.
Delcourt earned a graduate degree in art from UW-Madison, concentrating on woodworking, and he studied under local Native American artist Harry Whitehorse. He used to use chainsaws to carve large pieces, including one that now sits in front of a casino in Lac du Flambeau. But due to the wear and tear it took on his body (holding the chainsaw up high and carving), he’s moved to smaller pieces.
The idea for Humble Crossings began in 1989, the year his father died. Delcourt says he was dispirited by his family’s interactions with the funeral home: “It made us feel guilty — if we chose the most modest [casket], that we were not honoring him somehow,” he says.
Humble Crossings (the name is inspired by a Celtic traditional song called “The Water Is Wide”) is meant to refocus burial on what really matters: integrating death as a part of life, a body’s return to the earth, and healing.
An eco-casket is for people, but also for the earth: “Don’t get buried six feet deep, don’t get embedded in concrete,” says Delcourt. When buried just three feet deep, a body can more easily “benefit the biosphere, decomposing and offering nutrients to the rest of the world,” he adds.
A hunter, Delcourt feels he should give back to the land where the deer he killed and consumed once roamed. Someday, deer will eat plants nourished by his own body. Green burial, he says, shows respect for “the web of life.”
Handmade wooden caskets used to be common in the 19th and early 20th centuries. There is renewed interest in them, driven by aging baby boomers looking at options for green burial.
Delcourt’s plan is to mill wood on-site from downed trees on friends’ properties near Plain and Wisconsin Dells. Oak and poplar will be abundant. The caskets will be metal-free, connected by dovetail joints and wooden pegs. Families who wish to be a part of the building process are welcome. He also makes burial baskets made from ditch willow for babies who have died.
He hopes people will order caskets ahead of time, but wants to keep models in stock, too. He plans to offer five types, from plain pine to pine with oak, walnut or cherry trim, and other hardwood mixes. He will also offer customizations like carvings, depending on customer interest.
Delcourt is hoping to raise funds on GoFundMe to purchase more specialized equipment, including a thickness planer and a jointer. He is also raising funds on Patreon to create a bank reserve that will enable him to sell caskets on a sliding scale for those in need. Full-price caskets will range from $650 to $1100.
On April 11, Delcourt began teaching his final Shabazz class, called “Listening to the Land,” on home funerals and green burials.
Students sat in a circle and engaged readily. He told them that letting go of someone is “hard to do,” but in the face of death, the gift of life is all the more sweet.
“Find the world and embrace it,” he said.
Previous classes have built a casket and made a shroud. On May 10, the students will visit two local green cemeteries: Circle Sanctuary outside of Barneveld, and Natural Path Sanctuary at the Farley Center, to which Delcourt refers clients. The class may also attend a Native American sweat lodge ceremony and learn about those cultural concepts of death.
“They’re not too young,” says Delcourt. “I think it’s important that they be the ones to know this, so they can talk to their parents about death and get their parents thinking about it,” he says.
Humble Crossings 608-354-6923, facebook.com/humble.crossings