MARINE ON ST. CROIX, Minn. - The Rev. Gordon Bergin loved fireworks. So before he died, he decided he wanted to say goodbye in a spectacular way: aboard a flaming rocket. Bergin's ashes will be sent into the heavens in a shower of gold sparks on Sunday during a holiday fireworks display in this scenic river town. "It's very unique - esoteric, maybe," said his son, the Rev. Brian Bergin. "He was a unique individual. He had many interests, and this was just one of them." "We're celebrating his life," he added.
The elder Bergin's ashes will be in a shell designed to burst into a formation that resembles crosses in the sky. He was a longtime pastor of Diamond Lake Lutheran Church in Minneapolis.
Gordon Bergin died in February at age 93. During his life he enjoyed electronics, Jaguar vehicles, photography, sunrises and the St. Croix River, along the Minnesota and Wisconsin border.
And like his son, he enjoyed fireworks.
"I've always been interested in fireworks, since I was about 9 or 10, and he supported my interest," said Brian Bergin, who is also a Lutheran pastor and the founder of Northern Lighter Pyrotechnics Inc., a fireworks club.
The Northern Lighters have shot off the fireworks display at Marine on St. Croix, a small town not far from St. Paul, for years. When the elder Bergin was living, he and his wife would meet Brian's family in town for the fireworks show.
Brian Bergin said his father chose to be cremated and have a portion of his ashes built into a fireworks shell. The logistics and design of the firework were left up to Brian; Mayor Glen Mills said the city has approved the memorial.
Mike Swisher, a member of the Northern Lighters and a pyrotechnics manufacturer, was asked to build the 6-inch shell. About 1 cup of Bergin's ashes were to be used as packing material instead of the usual sawdust.
Swisher said viewers won't notice any difference in the display because of the ashes. He said the burst should be a trail of sparks and "at the end of each comet trail, there will be a little cross-shaped burst."
While Swisher said this was the first such firework he's built, others say such memorials are becoming more common.
Camille Coman, president of Pyrotechnics Guild International, a fireworks club, didn't have numbers but said requests for such displays have increased over the last decade.
"Cremation is becoming more accepted," she said. "The view on what to do with your vessel upon your demise is ... a very personal choice."
About 26 percent of Americans who died in 2000 were cremated, up from about 19 percent five years earlier, according to the Cremation Association of North America's Web site. The organization projects the percentage of cremations to reach nearly 43 percent in 2025.
Nick Drobnis, owner of Angels Flight Inc., in the Los Angeles suburb of Castaic, said his company has been providing fireworks memorial services for about 15 years, fielding requests for such memorials from all over the world.
"This is the last image of your loved one that you are going to keep for the rest of your life," Drobnis said. "We provide an image that you can remember, that you'll cherish."
In Brian Bergin's case, he's hoping that seeing his father's firework display will give him a sense of closure he hasn't had since his father's cremation. He said his wife and two sons would attend.
"It will be emotional. It will help me again face the verity of my father's death," he said.
In Marine on St. Croix, where thousands gather on boats in the river and along its banks to see the annual display, the reverend's plan was met with encouragement.
"All the more power to you, to come up with a creative way to go out," said Christina Morrison, 22, a bartender at Brookside Bar and Grill. "Whatever makes you happy."
The elder Bergin's ashes will be in a shell designed to burst into a formation that resembles crosses in the sky. He was a longtime pastor of Diamond Lake Lutheran Church in Minneapolis.
Gordon Bergin died in February at age 93. During his life he enjoyed electronics, Jaguar vehicles, photography, sunrises and the St. Croix River, along the Minnesota and Wisconsin border.
And like his son, he enjoyed fireworks.
"I've always been interested in fireworks, since I was about 9 or 10, and he supported my interest," said Brian Bergin, who is also a Lutheran pastor and the founder of Northern Lighter Pyrotechnics Inc., a fireworks club.
The Northern Lighters have shot off the fireworks display at Marine on St. Croix, a small town not far from St. Paul, for years. When the elder Bergin was living, he and his wife would meet Brian's family in town for the fireworks show.
Brian Bergin said his father chose to be cremated and have a portion of his ashes built into a fireworks shell. The logistics and design of the firework were left up to Brian; Mayor Glen Mills said the city has approved the memorial.
Mike Swisher, a member of the Northern Lighters and a pyrotechnics manufacturer, was asked to build the 6-inch shell. About 1 cup of Bergin's ashes were to be used as packing material instead of the usual sawdust.
Swisher said viewers won't notice any difference in the display because of the ashes. He said the burst should be a trail of sparks and "at the end of each comet trail, there will be a little cross-shaped burst."
While Swisher said this was the first such firework he's built, others say such memorials are becoming more common.
Camille Coman, president of Pyrotechnics Guild International, a fireworks club, didn't have numbers but said requests for such displays have increased over the last decade.
"Cremation is becoming more accepted," she said. "The view on what to do with your vessel upon your demise is ... a very personal choice."
About 26 percent of Americans who died in 2000 were cremated, up from about 19 percent five years earlier, according to the Cremation Association of North America's Web site. The organization projects the percentage of cremations to reach nearly 43 percent in 2025.
Nick Drobnis, owner of Angels Flight Inc., in the Los Angeles suburb of Castaic, said his company has been providing fireworks memorial services for about 15 years, fielding requests for such memorials from all over the world.
"This is the last image of your loved one that you are going to keep for the rest of your life," Drobnis said. "We provide an image that you can remember, that you'll cherish."
In Brian Bergin's case, he's hoping that seeing his father's firework display will give him a sense of closure he hasn't had since his father's cremation. He said his wife and two sons would attend.
"It will be emotional. It will help me again face the verity of my father's death," he said.
In Marine on St. Croix, where thousands gather on boats in the river and along its banks to see the annual display, the reverend's plan was met with encouragement.
"All the more power to you, to come up with a creative way to go out," said Christina Morrison, 22, a bartender at Brookside Bar and Grill. "Whatever makes you happy."