We are honored to offer water cremation as part of our simple, yet high touch Colorado funeral home.
The Water Crematory team members have collectively been working in natural death care for nearly 30 years. We have received recognition as innovative, local business leaders, dedicated to greening the funeral industry. The Water Crematory is a subsidiary of The Natural Funeral, our award-winning funeral holistic funeral home based in Lafayette, Colorado.
Iris Irene The Water Crematory’s Holistic Funeral Coordinator, is a gardening expert and art therapy graduate who became interested in natural death care after hearing Seth Viddal speak at Naropa University. She gained experience at The Natural Funeral in Lafayette, and jumped at the chance to use her managerial expertise to open The Water Crematory in her hometown of Denver.
Lauren Carroll is a Green Funeral Director and Death Educator with over 10 years of experience. She has served on the board of directors for the National Home Funeral Alliance. Lauren is passionate about welcoming community and family involvement into death space, as she knows firsthand how doing so creates strong containers for the processing of grief, which is simply love without a home. When not honoring the dead or the Earth we eventually return to, Lauren tends to her two children and her urban farm at the base of a mountain.
Karen Van Vuuren, also co-owner of The Water Crematory, has spent more than 20 years as an end-of-life educator and funeral consumer advocate with the non-profit, Natural Transitions. She edited the organization’s magazine, taught workshops, and is a co-founder of The National Home Funeral Alliance. She is also director of two documentaries about end of life, Dying Wish and Go in Peace
Her brother, Dirk’s death at age nine informs and guides her work in sacred service to families.
Seth Viddal, The Water Crematory’s third partner, is a social entrepreneur who was more recently the owner of a successful construction company. A series of life events awakened Viddal to a new journey in the field of ecological, heart-led, end-of-life and funeral care. Seth also serves on the board of the non-profit educational center, Willow Farm, a contemplative end-of-life care training program.
Dan Ziskin, Karen van Vuuren, and Seth Viddal founded The Water Crematory as part of their vision to green the funeral industry.
Ziskin, a PhD physicist and atmospheric scientist, with a long-time commitment to environmentalism, is also co-owner Colorado’s first holistic funeral home, an award-winning business called The Natural Funeral, based in Lafayette.
Dan has devoted much time to serving on the boards of various non-profits, including Colorado CarShare and Kindness Ranch animal sanctuary.
It’s making sense to more and more people that our final footprint is gentle on the earth. Water cremation does, within a few hours, what a green burial would achieve over years. Water cremation is an ecological process that transforms us into a bio-nutrient to nurture the soil. It also leaves cremains for burial or scattering, similar to conventional flame cremation. Read more about it on our FAQ page.
Make an appointment for a phone, Zoom, or in-person meeting at our beautiful office space in the heart of down-town Denver. We’ll gently lead you through your options to create your own meaningful after-death care plan that includes water cremation. Planning ahead can bring you great peace of mind.
If you choose to pre-pay, we’ll guarantee our service prices for the future. You’ll essentially buy an insurance policy that names The Water Crematory as the beneficiary as the provider of your funeral services. The policy is transferable, so if you die outside of Colorado, you can use the funds for a provider that is not The Water Crematory.
We’d love to inform you of your options!
