Most people think of either conventional burial or the spreading of ashes when it comes to giving their loved ones a peaceful eternal resting place.
Brian Bayford, an entrepreneur and founder of the Gloucester-based burial service, Reef in Peace , is offering another option.
The retired vice president of a local water treatment company and grandfather of 23 started his business to provide an economical and ecological alternative to a traditional sanctuary by creating permanent underwater reef memorials in the Chesapeake Bay.
The service is also available for placement in reef sites off the coast of Florida, Texas and South Carolina. The business accepts cremated remains from anywhere in the U.S.
Reef in Peace memorials benefit the underwater ecosystem by creating a place where marine life can flourish and abundant sea life eventually blooms, Bayford said.
“It really promotes the growth of the seagrass, barnacles, oysters and everything like that,” he said. “So, we’re actually building life out of somebody’s remains.”
The four-sided, tetrahedron-shaped memorials are manufactured in Newport News from crushed oyster shells, coral calcium and concrete. The remains are placed in a 4-inch capped hole within the 150- to 200-pound structure.
Equating it to an “underwater Chia Pet,” Bayford said each memorial comes with a customized plaque — akin to a tombstone with a scripture or saying. They carry a price tag of $2,395 each.
Each memorial is accompanied by a certificate of placement detailing the deceased’s name, birth and death dates, and longitude and latitude. While the business can put the remains of a husband and wife together, Bayford said the memorials are generally set up for one person.
Christina Tchagalidze, Bayford’s daughter, explained that the memorials are lowered into the water via a chain, but the business plans to bring divers on board in the future.
Tchagalidze stepped in to help her father with the paperwork side of the business following the death of her mother, Dorothy, two and a half years ago.
“I feel like, these days, people are more attracted to the environmentally friendly option in every part of your life — including death,” she said.
Family members can go out, scuba dive and see the memorial just like a grave site, Tchagalidze said.
And while Bayford realizes this may not be for everybody, he sees it as a beneficial and unique way to memorialize loved ones.
“I think we’re providing something that is critical for the future,” he said.
Sandra J. Pennecke, 757-652-5836, sandra.pennecke@pilotonline.com
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