WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) – As the porters of Phil McLean brought Phil McLean’s casket into the chapel, there was a gasp as a wave of laughter rippled through the hundreds of mourners.
The box was a giant cream donut.
“It overshadowed the grief and troubled times of the past few weeks,” said his widow Debra. “The last memory in everyone’s mind was that donut and Phil’s sense of humor.”
The donut was the latest creation from Phil’s cousin Ross Hall, who runs a company in Auckland, New Zealand called Dying Art that custom builds colorful coffins.
Hall’s other creations include a sailboat, fire truck, chocolate bar and Lego bricks. There have been glittering coffins covered with fake jewelry, a chest inspired by the movie “The Matrix” and many coffins depicting people’s favorite beaches and vacation spots.
“There are people who are happy with a brown mahogany box and that’s great,” said Hall. “But if they want to scream, I’m here to do it for them.”
The idea first came to Hall about 15 years ago when he was writing a will and contemplating his own death.
“How do I want to go out?” he thought to himself, and decided it wouldn’t be like everyone else. “So I made my will that I want a red box with flames on it.”
Six months later, Hall, whose other business is a signage and graphics company, decided to get serious. He approached a few funeral directors who looked at him with interest and skepticism. But over time, the idea took hold.
Hal starts with specially made empty coffins and uses fiberboard and plywood to add details. A latex digital printer is used for the designs. Some assignments are particularly complex, such as the sailboat with keel and rudder, cabin, sails, even metal railings and pulleys.
Depending on the design, the coffins are sold for between 3,000 and 7,500 New Zealand dollars ($ 2,100 and $ 5,400).
Hall said the tone of funerals has changed significantly in recent years.
“People now think it’s a celebration of life rather than a mourning for death,” he said. And they were willing to ditch stuffy conventions to get something unique.
But a donut?
Debra McLean said she and her late husband, who was 68 when he died in February, used to travel across the country in their RV and that Phil loved comparing cream donuts in every small town and considered herself a connoisseur.
He considered a good donut that was crunchy on the outside, fluffy in the center, and absolutely made with fresh cream.
After Phil was diagnosed with colon cancer, he had time to think about his funeral and, along with his wife and nephew, came up with the idea for the donut box. Debra said they even had 150 donuts delivered to the funeral in Tauranga from Phil’s favorite bakery in Whitianga, over 100 miles away.
Hall said his coffins are biodegradable and are usually buried or cremated with the deceased. The only one he’s ever gotten back is his cousin’s, he said, because he used Styrofoam and molded foam, which isn’t environmentally friendly.
Phil was switched to a regular box for his cremation, and Hall said he will keep the donut box forever. For now, he’s left in his white 1991 Cadillac hearse.
As for his own funeral? Hall said he changed his mind about those red flames. He has emailed his kids saying he wants to be buried in a see-through coffin wearing only a leopard G-string.
“The children say they are not going,” he says with a laugh.