Iowa families have a new option when it comes to funerals and it's an option that appears to be increasing in popularity with family members of Iowa's veterans.
Friends and family of Cledith Bright honored this 71-year-old former member of the Navy and the Army Reserve at a funeral service Monday morning in Urbandale.
When the service at the American Legion Hall was over, Bright's sons brought out their father's remains and loaded him not into a traditional hearse, but a glass-walled trailer. That trailer was hooked to a three-wheeled motorcycle.
This motorcycle hearse led the procession twenty miles to the Iowa Veteran's Cemetery in Van Meter. During the funeral service Lloyd Robbins, driver and owner of the motorcycle hearse, stood to the side watching. A veteran himself, Robbins got the idea for his rolling hearse from a motorcycle magazine.
The magazine's model was on sale for $80,000 but Lloyd had two friends willing to donate time and give a discount on materials. So he built it, not knowing if there would be much demand.
In his first year, Robbins' hearse has carried 13 people to their final resting place. Eleven of them have been veterans.
Robbins calls his service Iron Hearse Destinations: Final Journey. For more information call 515-314-3294.
Friends and family of Cledith Bright honored this 71-year-old former member of the Navy and the Army Reserve at a funeral service Monday morning in Urbandale.
When the service at the American Legion Hall was over, Bright's sons brought out their father's remains and loaded him not into a traditional hearse, but a glass-walled trailer. That trailer was hooked to a three-wheeled motorcycle.
This motorcycle hearse led the procession twenty miles to the Iowa Veteran's Cemetery in Van Meter. During the funeral service Lloyd Robbins, driver and owner of the motorcycle hearse, stood to the side watching. A veteran himself, Robbins got the idea for his rolling hearse from a motorcycle magazine.
The magazine's model was on sale for $80,000 but Lloyd had two friends willing to donate time and give a discount on materials. So he built it, not knowing if there would be much demand.
In his first year, Robbins' hearse has carried 13 people to their final resting place. Eleven of them have been veterans.
Robbins calls his service Iron Hearse Destinations: Final Journey. For more information call 515-314-3294.
